Klobuchar, Grassley Legislation to Bolster Support for Identifying and Returning Kidnapped Ukrainian Children Heads to the President’s Desk

Russia has abducted thousands of Ukrainian children - attempting to erase their cultural identity and heritage

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) announced that their bipartisan Abducted Ukrainian Children Recovery and Accountability Act passed the Senate. The legislation now heads to the President's desk to be signed into law.

The Abducted Ukrainian Children Recovery and Accountability Act would increase support for Ukraine's efforts to investigate and track the thousands of Ukrainian children who have been abducted during Putin's brutal invasion, assist with the rehabilitation and reintegration of children who are returned, and advance justice and accountability for perpetrators of these abductions.

"The mass kidnapping of Ukrainian children by Russia is an atrocity. We cannot accept a world where children are abducted during wartime and used as a form of hostage-taking for negotiations. Our bipartisan legislation will provide necessary support to track them and hold the perpetrators accountable," said Klobuchar.

"After he started the largest war in Europe since World War II, Putin kidnapped thousands of Ukrainian children to brainwash and Russify them, trying to destroy their cultural identity and heritage. These children should be returned home as soon as possible. I'm glad to see our measure included in the annual defense bill to support critical tools to identify and track the location of these children and reintegrate them into their homeland. We're also helping hold perpetrators accountable for their atrocities to ensure justice is served," said Grassley.

Last month, Klobuchar met with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican along with a delegation from Ukraine working to return the thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia during Putin's brutal invasion.

Klobuchar testified at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the abduction of Ukrainian children earlier this month where she discussed her meeting with the Pope and rescued Ukrainian children, and bipartisan efforts to bring the Ukrainian children home.

The Abducted Ukrainian Children Recovery and Accountability Act is complementary to the Designating the Russian Federation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act, which was introduced in September by Klobuchar and Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Katie Britt (R-AL) to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism under U.S. law if it fails to return the thousands of Ukrainian children who have been kidnapped during the course of the war.

In March, Klobuchar and Grassley were joined by Senator Durbin in leading a bipartisan letter calling for the State Department to continue supporting efforts to investigate Russia's abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children.

To date, Ukrainian authorities have received thousands of confirmed reports of unlawful deportations and forced transfers of Ukrainian children to Russia, Belarus or Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. The abductions aim to erase the children's Ukrainian names, language, and identity. As of today, Ukraine and its partners have managed to return about 1,800 abducted children.

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