On August 25, 1991, Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union. “That same week,” said United States Representative at the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, “Ukraine notified the United Nations of its independence ‘based on the right of a nation to self-determination in accordance with the Charter.’”
Thirty-two years later, Ukraine is fighting the Soviet Union’s successor, the Russian Federation, to keep its independence and safeguard its cultural heritage. “Today, Ukraine’s very existence is under attack,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield.
“Ukrainians have courageously fought back to defend their country’s sovereignty. To defend their freedom. Their democracy. Their culture. And Ukrainians are fighting valiantly to defend and return Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported to Russia, Belarus, and Russian-occupied territories,” she said.
Children are the future, and a country that loses its children has no future. Since the invasion, and going as far back as 2014, the government of Ukraine estimates that Russian authorities have deported or forcibly displaced from their homes, over 19,500 children, “including babies as young as four months old,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield.
“Russia’s campaign of cruelty continues to this day. Russia and its proxies have detained children fleeing violence. They have forced children out of schools and orphanages. And local proxies have tricked or coerced parents into sending their children to so-called “summer camps” only to be cut off from communication and refused to have their children returned to them,” she said.
The abducted children are “subjected to propaganda, brainwashing, and even given military training. Some are pressured to accept Russian citizenship, and others reportedly adopted by Russian families,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield.
Russian officials claim that they are performing ‘humanitarian evacuations.’ “But this is a gross perversion of reality, and a futile attempt to justify the unjustifiable,” she said.
“And let’s be clear: these atrocities are being orchestrated by all levels of the Russian government up to the top,” she said. “The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights for allegedly deporting and transferring children from occupied areas of Ukraine.”
“We must hold Russia to account. We must lift up organizations doing the good work of trying to return these children to their families,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. “And we must call on Russia to end its brutal war of aggression, comply with its obligations under international law, and immediately return all of Ukraine’s children.”
