Address by the President to the Participants of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children Summit at the Leaders’ Level

• Home
• News
• Speeches

[Link]

Thank you very much!

Dear friends!

DearMark - Prime Minister of Canada, Madam First Lady of Canada!

Olena!

All the leaders, all the representatives!

Excellencies, our friends, Your Majesties!

Thank you for bringing the Coalition for the Return of Children to the level of leaders' work. And this is a very good sign. And thank you, thanks Canada, thank you, Mark, for your strong leadership. More than 30 delegations are here with us now, taking part in the Coalition. And thank you all, this is truly important. Today, we are in New York, on a global stage. The next such summit, we expect to hold in Brussels - under the co-leadership of Ukraine and the European Commission, thank you, Ursula.

Hope this format will bring progress in solving this very, very sensitive issue - the fate of Ukrainian children. Thousands and thousands of our children are victims of Russia's double crime. Russia first abducted them and deported them, and now it tries to steal everything they have inside - their culture, their character, their bond with family, and their identity.

[Link]

Maybe not everyone here is a parent, but everyone knows how quickly children grow, how precious every moment is, how fragile their first steps in life can be. And so one of the greatest things adults can do is to give a child a normal childhood. And one of the lowest crimes imaginable is to replace childhood with war and its cruelty. For years, we have been fighting to bring our children home. And we need real results, real, which means the actual return of all the abducted Ukrainian children.

It is fair and symbolic that the first crime Putin has been charged with is his crime against children. And I thank every country that enforced the ICC warrant for Putin and others guilty of abducting children. This matters. And it must not be forgiven.

Thanks to our Bring Kids Back UA initiative and the support of partners, 1,625 children have already been returned to Ukraine. Each return is a success - a child saved, but also a challenge, because the child must be reintegrated and protected from the trauma they went through. The First Lady of Ukraine contributes to the reintegration projects for such children, and today you will hear from Olena about this work. Please join these projects.

And we are also starting a tracing mechanism to collect all data about our displaced children in Russia and in occupied territories. Russia hides the truth, so this work is crucial. It means financing, searching, verifying information, and making sure those responsible are held accountable.

And I urge you - please, in every sanctions package, increase the pressure on those Russian politicians, officials, judges, propagandists, and others involved in child abductions and the attempt to "reprogram" their minds. All this is known - the camps where abducted children are taught hatred, the institutions involved, even the structures of Russia's state church used to erase children's Ukrainian identity. And everyone who does not close their eyes and acts in response defends humanity. Everyone in Russia who is involved in child abduction, "re-education" and abuse - will be sanctioned.

Sanctions packages are never easy, but adding those guilty of crimes against children makes this work stronger and gives it moral force.

[Link]

Dear friends!

In Türkiye, we gave Russia's representatives an initial list of 339 children. Clear data. Just a small, small part of the thousands we must save.

So far, Russia has done almost nothing - not even given real information about these children. They refuse to give real information - neither to us, nor to international organizations.

Please let the result of this Coalition meeting be support for initiatives to find, return, and reintegrate our children, and real pressure on Russia through sanctions. We must turn attention into action. We need your support and the support of partners in the General Assembly. And this year, we'll introduce a resolution condemning the abduction and deportation of children. Forcibly taking children from one nation and trying to re-educate them for the benefit of another is an obvious crime. The UN must say this clearly once again.

So the crime must be stopped. The felons must be held accountable. Ukrainian children must be brought home.

Thank you to all the countries standing with us, with our families, with Ukrainians, with our Ukrainian children.

Glory to Ukraine!