Russian forces have reportedly captured the teenaged son of an official in Zaporizhzhia, while others have been separated from their families.

The war in Ukraine has forced millions to flee the country, but some of the most vulnerable have been left behind. NBC’s Richard Engel reports for TODAY on the Vilshanka Orphan House. Warning: some of the images in this report may be distressing.

On February 24, in the early hours of a cold, dark morning in Lviv, two phones in one apartment rang nearly simultaneously. The phones belonged to two women, Maryna and Nataliia, professional colleagues of a sort and temporary roommates; they were also newfound friends, both of them pregnant and near the beginning of their third trimesters.

The conflict in Ukraine and subsequent refugee crisis has resulted in children being separated from their families and moved across borders. Some have been orphaned or their orphanages have been destroyed.

As of the morning of June 8, 2022, more than 741 children were injured in Ukraine as a result of the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation: according to official information of juvenile prosecutors, 263 children were killed, more than 478 injured, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) reports.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, hundreds of children have been killed, hundreds more have been injured, and millions have fled.

More than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and children, have fled to Bulgaria since the start of the war. The government placed around 60,000 refugees at beach-front resorts during the low season at places such as the Melia Sunny Beach hotel. Its manager, Hristo Karailiev, said it had housed around 2,500 Ukrainians at one point.

Prosecutors investigating war crimes cases in Ukraine are examining allegations of the forcible deportation of children to Russia since the invasion as they seek to build a genocide indictment, the country’s top prosecutor said in an interview.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of pursuing a “consistent criminal policy of deporting our people” into mostly remote areas of Russia. During his daily address on Wednesday, 2 June 2022, Zelensky said more than 200,000 children have been deported so far.

More than 500 Ukrainian children who fled the war without their parents are stuck waiting in limbo across Europe after applying to the Homes for Ukraine scheme, sources working closely with the Home Office say.