On Ukrainian Independence Day in Newport Beach, California, a large-scale installation of 20,000 teddy bears, symbolizing Ukrainian children illegally deported by Russia, was dismantled by order of the city authorities a few hours before a scheduled press conference. Despite this, the organizers held the event and called on the international community to make the return of Ukrainian children an unconditional condition of any peace agreements.
This is reported in a press release by the American Coalition for Ukraine.
Thus, on August 24, an installation of 20,000 teddy bears was placed along MacArthur Boulevard in Newport Beach. Each of them symbolized one of the Ukrainian children who, according to the organizers, Russia forcibly removed from Ukraine.
The display, about 230 feet long and 8 feet high (approximately 70 m long and 2.4 m high), bore the inscription: “PUTIN STOLE 20,000 UKRAINIAN CHILDREN. BRING THE CHILDREN HOME.”
According to the organizers, the installation did not obstruct pedestrian traffic and complied with city regulations. However, after someone contacted the city’s compliance service, officials arrived and ordered the display to be dismantled about three hours before the scheduled press conference.
“It was hard not to wonder why someone specifically contacted the city’s compliance service if the installation did not block the sidewalk or access. The timing was particularly disturbing: it happened three hours before a press conference to draw attention to the abducted Ukrainian children,” the organizers said.
Despite the dismantling of the exhibit, the press conference went ahead as planned.
Congressman Mike Levin, in turn, provided the organizers with a statement in which he emphasized that the return of Ukrainian children must be an integral part of any peaceful settlement.
“Russia’s systematic abduction of Ukrainian children is one of the most horrific crimes of this war, and there can be no just or lasting peace that leaves these children behind. We cannot allow these children to be forgotten, and we will not stop demanding their return home,” he said.
Congresswoman Young Kim emphasized that the forcible removal of children is an attempt to destroy the Ukrainian nation.
“In any conflict, the cost of war should be limited to the battlefield—period. Instead, the Russian military did something far more sinister: they seized tens of thousands of children, snatching them from their parents. No child should have to face the brutal realities of war, much less be the deliberate target of an operation aimed at destroying the social fabric of a nation. Putin’s war is not just a war for territorial gain: it is a campaign to destroy Ukrainian identity, starting with the most vulnerable among us,” she said, recalling her support for a U.S. House of Representatives resolution condemning the deportation of Ukrainian children.
The Rev. Canon Cindy Evans Voorhees also addressed the participants, urging them to imagine a city where no child has returned to school after summer vacation:
“Imagine the start of the school year in the Newport Mesa School District and not a single child is in the classroom. In our entire city, not a single child can come to school because they have all disappeared and no one knows where they are. Imagine yourself as a parent who knows your child’s favorite color. Imagine a mother who wants to make breakfast but has no one to cook for her; a father who is looking for his child; a grandparent who is praying for her…”
The installation was created by Razom for Ukraine in partnership with the American Coalition for Ukraine. It was first presented in Washington this spring. Newport Beach became the fourth and final city in California where the exhibition was shown with the support of Globe 4 Ukraine and Shield of Freedom.
The organizers announced that in the coming weeks the installation will travel to Olympia, Washington, after which it will continue its tour of cities in the United States and Canada. The main goal is to draw attention to the problem of illegal removal of Ukrainian children and to call on the American authorities to make their return one of the key priorities of international negotiations.
Photo: American Coalition for Ukraine
Prepared by: Inna Mikhno