@jaydenjoo, I would hope it's an exaggeration but its unlikely. There are two sets of numbers we can work with: identified cases and estimates. According to the official database:
https://childrenofwar.gov.ua/ - there are 19489 deported children who have been identified. However, identifying a minor taken from occupied territory is difficult. The real number is certainly much higher.
Let's talk about the estimates. According to data from open sources published by Russia, 744,000 children were deported. This is an upper estimate, possibly unrealistic because Russia wants to report a high number of Ukrainians deported, who it presumes in the future will be part of Russian society. Kateryna Rashevska, a lawyer at the Regional Center for Human Rights, estimated that Russia has deported between 260,000 and nearly 700,000 minors. The NGO "UA Experts", estimated that Russia kidnapped over 100,000 children.
This is one of the most sensitive issues both for Ukrainians and the international community. On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Russia, who oversaw the abduction, deportations and adoption of Ukrainian children from occupied territories. It's telling that this was the reason, rather than anything else about the war, for which the ICC issued a warrant for Putin's arrent. Even at the lower estimates, the scale of the tragedy is immense.
Regarding your second question, I wouldn't look at it in binary terms. It's not whether I was anti-Russian or not but a question of extent. Before 2014 pro-Western Ukrainians worked towards making Ukraine a more European nation, with free markets, strong press, independent court system, reduced corruption, etc. Those of us who held such views were anti-Russian because Russia represented a different worldview, which it promoted through allied political parties and press and the portion of the Ukrainian population nostalgic for the Soviet Union. Additionally many knew Ukraine's history and were further opposed to Russia on that basis. I wouldn't say I hated Russia, but I wanted Ukraine to move away from it politically, culturally and economically. After the Revolution of Dignity and Russia seizing Crimea and Donbas, this became hatred. After 2022 those feelings were confirmed and amplified.