Watch: Demonstrators display 20,000 teddy bears for missing Ukrainian children

An installation of 20,000 teddy bears has been placed on the National Mall in Washington to draw attention to Ukrainian children believed to have been taken by Russia.

The US-based Razom for Ukraine organization and American Coalition for Ukraine installed the display to represent the estimated 20,000 children that Ukraine says have been sent illegally to Russia and Belarus since the war began five years ago. Organisers want Congress to help address what the UN has called a crime against humanity.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that more than 2,100 children have been returned to their loved ones by the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, which has been tracing and returning Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories and Russia since 2023.

Video by Alex Foster, produced with Rebecka Pieder