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A senior Ukrainian official has called for urgent international action to secure the return of more than 20,000 children who she says have been kidnapped by Russia in what Kyiv is calling “the largest abduction operation” of its kind.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa described the forced deportation of children from occupied territories as a systematic campaign of Russification and indoctrination, and said their safe return must be a precondition to any peace settlement.
“Russia has abducted at least 20,000 Ukrainian children and deported them to Russia. Forceful assimilation, indoctrination, mobilisation. Huge mobilisation especially for young boys. Russification, erasing their names, so-called adoption into Russian families. But in fact, it is the largest abduction operation,” Betsa said in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Every child should be reunited with their families. Not a single parent should endure what they are passing through when their children have been abducted and deported.”
The call for global support comes as Ukraine launches a week-long campaign, Return of the Stolen Ukrainian Children.
The Deputy Foreign minister continued: “Especially now with Easter coming, this is the time for global awareness.
“When every country celebrates Easter with their loved ones, every child should be back home. Children are non-negotiable, without any conditions on the Russian side. It should be absolutely done, up front and swiftly.”
As part of the campaign, Ukraine has launched an initiative from 16 – 20 April to raise awareness about the abduction of Ukrainian children. The campaign, Return of the Stolen Ukrainian Children, includes distributing sweatshirts to key leaders to wear during those days, including those in the UK and EU, to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian children. Betsa said. “They should be returned first and foremost, without any conditions, prior to any peace negotiations,” she said.
“This is a human dimension of the war Russia has waged on Ukraine. No parent should be left without their child, and no child should be separated from their family, tortured, abducted, and Russified in another country. It is completely unacceptable and runs counter to international law,” Betsa added.
Betsa acknowledged the process of locating and recovering the children is extremely difficult, made harder by deliberate Russian attempts to conceal their identities.
“It is a very delicate process, a very difficult process. Complicated, for many reasons. It is very difficult to trace and identify all the kids that Russia deported. But we are working very closely with our mediators and trying to bring each and every child home.”
“We definitely need more international efforts to maximise and mobilise support,” she added. “Not a single child should be separated from their family, tortured, abducted or Russified in another country. It is totally unacceptable and runs counter to international law.”
She warned that Russia’s military campaign shows no sign of slowing, citing recent missile attacks in Sumy and Kharkiv that killed civilians including children.
“Russia does not want peace. Russia wants and needs war. While Ukraine is fully committed to peace and to a ceasefire, we think more pressure, including sanctions pressure, should be exerted on Russia. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to reach a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.”
“What Russia tries to do in general is dismantle the unity among different allies, both in Europe and across the transatlantic community. We need to stay united if we are to resist Russian pressure and achieve peace.”
“Russia needs to be pressed into peace, not Ukraine. Ukraine has shown numerous times that it is fully committed to peace and wants it more than anyone else.”
