Russia has taken more than 20,000 children, 1,400 of them returned by Ukraine — Foreign Ministry

Deportation of children by Russians. Illustrative photo: AP/Roman Yarovitsyn

The Russians deported about 20,000 Ukrainian children, of whom Ukraine was able to return only 1,400. At the same time, approximately 1.6 million children remain in the occupied regions.

This was stated by Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa during a speech in Strasbourg.

«At least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been deported by Russia. 1.6 million Ukrainian children still live in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Every minute as we speak, abductions continue. So far, we have managed to return 1400 children. But this is only a small drop in the ocean», said Mariana Betsa.

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She also noted that since 2014, Russia has been applying repressive policies against Ukrainian children, and since 2022, it has become systematic. At the technical talks in Istanbul, Ukraine handed over to the Russians a list of 339 children who should be returned immediately.

«Even this list is being manipulated by Russia. Russia tried to make a complete game of it, saying that there are not 20,000 children, but only 339 children. It is not true. This was the first step of our representatives at the technical meeting in Istanbul — to provide this list and say: «Help us return 10 children, 20, 100, 150, as a first step, as a decisive preliminary step to show that Russia is serious about returning Ukrainian children and curbing its aggression». Nothing has been done», emphasised Mariana Betsa.

Earlier it was reported that within the framework of the Ukrainian humanitarian programme Bring Kids Back UA, 1359 children who were illegally deported by Russia have already been returned to Ukraine.

It should be reminded that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, more than 19,500 cases of forced deportation of children to Russia, Belarus and the temporarily occupied territories have been identified.