Russia is using “tens of thousands of children” from Ukraine as “tools of war,” a British official has said.
In a statement to the UN Security Council, Stephen Doughty, the Minister of State for Europe, North America and the Overseas Territories, accused Russia of separating Ukrainian children from their families as well as robbing them of “security and peace.”
“Last September, I met children who had been forcibly taken from occupied Ukrainian territory by Russian forces,” he said. “They told me how they were separated from their families, with new identities imposed upon them.”
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has faced widespread allegations of forcibly transferring Ukrainian children from territories seized by its forces.
On Feb. 24, Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets revealed at that Ukraine has discovered information about some 20,000 Ukrainian children who were forcibly seized and relocated to Russia after 2022.
In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova, citing the “war crime of unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children.
“I have a picture in my office, painted by a Ukrainian child who had escaped Russia, now undergoing therapy to deal with the ordeal they have endured,” Doughty continued.
“Russia is doing this to tens of thousands of children – using them as tools of war.”
The minister similarly condemned Moscow for disrupting the daily lives of Ukrainian children living outside of the occupied territories.
“Children all over Ukraine are enduring days and nights marked by air raid sirens and blackouts, by fear and loss,” he said.
“This is taking a severe toll on their mental health. A generation is being robbed of the security and peace that every child in this world deserves.”
He also praised Ukrainians for their resilience as the country marked the four year anniversary of the full-scale invasion.
“What has stayed with me, after meeting Ukrainians from all walks of life, is their incredible courage in the face of this barbarity. It has earned them the respect of people the world over.”
Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that 2,000 Ukrainian childrenhad been successfully been recovered from Russian control as part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative.