President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukrainian children deported by Russia have become victims of a “double crime.” During a meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children in New York, he emphasized the scale of the tragedy that has affected thousands of families.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Returning Children: Challenges and Results
According to the head of state, the Bring Kids Back UA initiative in collaboration with international partners has enabled the return of 1,625 children who were illegally deported from Ukraine by Russia. Zelensky highlighted that each return is not only a significant victory but also a challenge, as the children require reintegration and psychological support after experiencing trauma.
“First, (Russia – ed.) kidnapped and deported them, and now it is trying to steal everything they have inside: their culture, character, their connections with families, and their identity.”
The president also noted that the first charge by the International Criminal Court regarding crimes against children is just. He thanked the countries that participated in executing the arrest warrant for Putin.
Tracking and Sanctions Against Those Involved
Zelensky announced the launch of a tracking system to collect data on displaced Ukrainian children who are in Russia and in occupied territories. He emphasized that Russia deliberately conceals information, making support for this work critically important. The mechanism includes funding for searches, processing information, and punishing those responsible for the deportation of children.
The president called for increased sanctions against all those involved in the abduction, deportation, and re-education of Ukrainian children. In his view, it is necessary to combat Russian camps and institutions that attempt to erase the Ukrainian identity of the abducted children.
He reminded that Ukraine provided the Russian side with a list of 339 deported children, yet Russia has still not provided any substantial information regarding their whereabouts to either Kyiv or international organizations. Zelensky urged representatives of countries to join initiatives for the return and reintegration of children and to increase pressure on Russia.
According to official Ukrainian data, during the full-scale war, over 20,000 children found themselves in Russia or in temporarily occupied territories. At the same time, authorized bodies estimate that the actual number of illegally transported children ranges from 150,000 to 300,000. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and the Russian children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova on suspicion of war crimes related to the deportation and relocation of children from occupied territories of Ukraine.
In turn, in July 2023, Russian children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova claimed that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has “accepted” about 4.8 million citizens of Ukraine, of which over 700,000 are children. According to her statement, most of them allegedly arrived with parents or relatives.