Ukraine is yet to receive a response from the Russian side to the list of children abducted by the invasion force that Ukraine’s delegation handed over to the Russian side at the latest round of talks in Turkey’s Istanbul.
This was stated to Ukrinform by Daria Zarivna, advisor to the head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, chief of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, who spoke about Ukraine’s efforts to bring back its children at the GLOBSEC forum in Prague.
“I decided that this forum is the right platform to talk about this, to provide a follow-up on the issue of bringing our children back in the context of the negotiations,” Zarivna noted.
She recalled that in Istanbul, during the latest meeting of representatives of both sides, the Ukrainian delegation handed over to Russia a list of 339 children.
“This is, of course, not a full list. This is a confidence-building measure, a way to give Russia the opportunity to show its serious attitude in the context of returning children,” the advisor to the head of the President’s Office noted.
According to Zarivna, if the Russians really wish to demonstrate “good will,” they can return at least some of the children from the list, as the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, said after the meeting in Istanbul.
“The main thing is that the return takes place, because so far we have not seen any serious, constructive attitude. We are waiting for their answer. The ball is now in the Russian side’s court,” Zarivna emphasized.
At the forum, she said Ukraine has confirmed data on 19,546 children who have been illegally deported, forcibly displaced, or held in temporarily occupied territories. In general, the Ukrainian side assumes that 1.6 million Ukrainian children have been deported, forcibly removed, or simply remain in the occupied territories. The Russian authorities are actively “working” with these children, brainwashing them, practically turning children into weapons against their own people, and preparing them for future wars. This is a threat that is often underestimated, Zarivna noted, including a threat to Europe.
“It doesn’t seem like they want the war to end, they are preparing for a long war, already training soldiers. So it’s not just about Ukrainian children, but about international law and security,” she emphasized.
The director of Bring Kids Back UA said the biggest challenge in the issue of children’s return is the delay of information sharing and access to children for both Ukrainian and international organizations. She also emphasized that the children who have already been brought back need rehabilitation and integration, because they have been deeply traumatized.
Created at the initiative of the President of Ukraine, the Bring Kids Back UA action plan rallies the efforts of Ukrainian state bodies, partner countries, and international organizations to stop Russia’s genocidal policy and prevent the recurrence of such tragedies in the future. According to the initiative, 1,359 children have been brought back so far.
In the summer of 2023, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, said that since the full-scale invasion, Russia has “adopted” about 4.8 million Ukrainians, of whom more than 700,000 are children. However, since the ICC put her and Vladimir Putin on their wanted list, the Russian side have provided no data on Ukrainian children, while trying to manipulate Ukrainian reports.
It should be recalled that the GLOBSEC forum is taking place in the Czech capital, Prague, on June 12-14.
