Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to media during a press conference in Kyiv, on March 15.SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images
Ukrainian officials say there cannot be peace in the country without the return of thousands of Ukrainian children who have been forcibly deported to Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Bring Kids Back UA, an initiative launched by President Volodymyr Zelensky, which brings together government agencies, partner countries and international groups working on this issue, released a statement on Monday – marking the second anniversary of the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.
The ICC issued the warrants in March, 2023, accusing the two of the war crime of unlawful deportation of children. Bring Back Kids UA said that since then, there have been additional instances of Ukrainian children forcibly taken to Russia. Ukraine estimates that at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been taken.
Daria Zarivna, adviser to the head of the Presidential Office as well as chief operating officer of Bring Kids Back UA, said the anniversary serves as a reminder of the need to continue holding Russia to account.
“It is also an opportunity for the international community to send a clear message that we will not waver until every child is safely brought home.”
Bring Back Kids UA highlighted a report from Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab called “Russia’s systematic program of the coerced adoption and fostering of Ukraine’s children.” Their work identified hundreds of children who were taken from Ukraine and listed for adoption in Russia’s primary child placement databases and detailed how Ukrainian children are taken into Russian custody.
“The Russian Federation systematically militarizes Ukrainian children in the occupied territories, using state-funded programs to indoctrinate them. This is not a set of isolated incidents but a long-term, well-financed strategy of the Kremlin,” the statement said.
Oleh Nikolenko, Ukraine’s consul-general in Toronto, told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Putin “will be remembered not only as the person who unleashed the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II but also as the orchestrator of the mass abduction of children.”
“Putin’s ultimate goal remains unchanged: He seeks to destroy Ukrainian statehood and eradicate the Ukrainian nation. The kidnapping of children is part of this heinous plan.”
Mr. Nikolenko said many children have been forced to change their identities and prevented from speaking Ukrainian, and that their foster families in Russia are tasked with “re-educating them” by erasing their heritage and forcing them to embrace Mr. Putin and Russia.
He said returning Ukrainian children is complicated because Russian officials conceal the children’s names, where they’re from and where they’re taken. However, he said under Bring Kids Back UA, Ukraine and its partners have returned more than 1,240 children since 2022. “Still, approximately 19,500 abducted children remain in Russia. In the majority of cases, children who return to Ukraine suffer from severe physical and emotional distress.”
Mr. Nikolenko said the children’s return is one of the main pillars to a future peace settlement and that’s why Mr. Zelensky has proposed including the return of prisoners of war and abducted children in the ceasefire agreement that’s being discussed.
He added that Ukraine counts on Canada’s support as a co-leader of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. “These children must come home to reunite with their families and loved ones. And those who ordered and carried out this crime must be held fully accountable,” he said.
Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine and co-chair of the Bring Kids Back UA Task Force, said in the statement that “Russia’s refusal to co-operate, its deliberate hindrance of repatriation, and its attempt to legalize these actions cannot stand. Ukraine will continue our efforts until every child is brought home, and those responsible are held accountable.”
Bring Back Kids UA said that peace talks have to prioritize bringing back Ukrainian children.
“Negotiations must recognize the fate of hundreds of thousands of these children is central to any effort to end the war. There can be no just peace without the return of Ukrainian children,” the statement said.
In October, more than 45 countries signed a pledge at a summit in Montreal to repatriate Ukrainians who had been forcibly taken to Russia, including civilians, prisoners of war and children.
Ihor Michalchyshyn, CEO and executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said that bringing the children home is “critical.”
“I think it’s a non-negotiable part of whatever developments happen next.”