Forced Russkies - Tom LoBianco Reports, Ep. 7
Russia's kidnappings of Ukrainian children and the war crimes of brainwashing a generation. Join me at Noon ET for the next episode of Tom LoBianco Reports.
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Welcome to the seventh episode of Tom LoBianco Reports, a new show from 24sight News and our friends at
. Monday through Friday, tune in here on Substack at Noon ET and then catch the replay at 8p ET at Political Voices Network.Talk is cheap and opinions aplenty, but the story only reveals itself through reporting. Each weekday, I’ll bring you along as I report the story. Along with my friend and colleague
, we’ll dive down the late-night, screen-glazed rabbit hole of the modern interwebs, acting as your personal guide to what’s real and what’s complete bullshit. (For our live viewers at noon, reply to this email or send in your comments in the live chat and we’ll get to them at the end of the show.)Programming notes: In case you missed my chat with New York Times Bestselling Author
, catch it here. We talked about Trump’s two vice presidents, Mike Pence and J.D. Vance, with some very interesting findings, particularly with the rampant Trump health questions (more on that at the end of the email today.)And my colleague
was on CBS News yesterday talking about longtime Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler’s retirement and what to expect with Congress back in town. (Keep an eye here for an update from JulieG on today’s Epstein Files press conference from the Capitol.)On today’s show:
The Top: Stolen Childhood
Among the many atrocities of Russia’s continued war against Ukraine, bombings and murders of families and children, false promises of ceasefires, rampant propagandizing, one of the most novel and insipid has been the kidnapping of Ukrainian children, brainwashing and, in some cases, forced military service sending them back to the frontlines to fight against their fellow Ukrainians.
A debate over the efficacy of President Trump’s long-running attempts to broker an end to the war will have to come during a subsequent show. But one interesting nugget from his red-carpet welcome of the KGB-turned-Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was delivering a note from First Lady Melania Trump seeking the return of Ukraine’s abducted children.
Joining the show today, at 12:15p ET, I’ll have Dr. Irwin Redlener public health and pediatrics leader and co-founder, with his wife Karen Redlener, of The Ukraine Children’s Action Project, talking about efforts to rescue the abducted children and what they suffer through in Russia.
The Nut Graf
I was reading this incredible piece from The Wall Street Journal a few days ago, stunned by what a generation now of abducted children have gone through — brainwashing and propagandizing — going back to, arguably, the true start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its taking of Crimea in 2014. (For years, the formal posture of the U.S., under then-President Barack Obama, was referring to this as an “annexation”.)
Estimates are now that Russia has abducted upward of 20,000 Ukrainian children for brainwashing, placing in families of top Putin allies and even training to replace adult Russian soldiers killed.
Ukraine’s parents and grandparents sometimes take it on themselves to rescue their abducted family, relying on help from the Ukrainian site Children of War and a mobile app “Reunite Ukraine”.
Hot Quote
“They recruit them with a ruse,” Redlener told me a few weeks ago as we were talking about this. The Russian soldiers will, often, target foster children first and lure them to Russia with a promise of food and shelter, just a for a few weeks.
Of course, it’s not just a few weeks. In Russia, the Ukrainian children are re-named, told repeatedly they are Russians, placed into Kremlin re-education programs and more.
Redlener’s group, along with numerous global non-profits, the United Nations support clandestine rescue operations.
Deep Background:
Abducting and brainwashing children is a war crime, as deemed by the United Nations. Add it to the multiple war crimes of rape, attacks on civilians, hospitals and more by Putin’s troops.
But the kidnapping and brainwashing of Ukrainian children appears to be novel in modern warfare, a new atrocity aimed at erasing a sovereign nation and culture.
Returning Ukrainian children is expected to be a part of any successful negotiation to an end to the war.
What’s Next
Tune in tomorrow for a look at what a possible J.D. Vance presidency would look like, whether that’s imminent or in 2029.
will be joining to help understand what we can glean from his time in office. I’ll also have an advance look at Virginia’s special election for the 11th congressional district next week, perhaps an early barometer of what to expect in November down in the Commonwealth.Catch up
Did you miss yesterday’s show? Watch it here! Congress is back, the latest possible government shutdown is front and center, but The Epstein Files is the big story.
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