Ukraine has already repatriated 600 Ukrainian children who were illegally taken to Russia. However, there are known cases of more than 20,000 such incidents, states Ukrainian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Oleksandr Karasevych.
"If we look at the scale of Russian crimes, it is enormous. The Russians themselves claim to have deported 700,000 children from Ukrainian territory to their territory. But we have data on about 20,000 such cases, and unfortunately, only 600 displaced children who were taken have returned home," he said.
During a speech at the ICRC (International Commission on Missing Persons), where a Round Table on the search for missing Ukrainian children was organized, Karasevych noted that after deportation to Russia, young Ukrainians change citizenship, and names, and are given for adoption to Russian families.
"This illegal removal of children, as well as the Russification of our children, is part of a genocidal policy against our people," the ambassador emphasized.
He also noted that the Bring Kids Back UA project has been launched, which is a comprehensive action plan to implement the instructions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It brings together the efforts of all Ukrainian authorities, other states, and international and non-governmental organizations to return all Ukrainian children who were illegally deported by Russia to their homeland. Any country, organization, or individual can join the implementation of this initiative within the framework of the action plan. According to Karasevych, 37 countries are already part of the International Coalition to Return Ukrainian Children, with Argentina recently joining.
The White House has new and credible information that Russia is placing abducted young Ukrainians on Russian adoption websites.
Earlier, it was reported that during the Peace Summit in Switzerland, where 39 countries discussed the return of Ukrainians abducted by Russian forces in a closed regime, Ukraine unexpectedly received offers of assistance even from pro-Russian countries.