US Congress demands justice from Russia, return kidnapped Ukrainian children
US Congress stands in defense of abducted Ukrainian children (Photo: Getty Images)
The US Congress has introduced a resolution condemning Russia’s abduction and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children, according to an official statement from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The bipartisan resolution was introduced by Representatives Gregory Meeks and Michael McCaul. It condemns Russia’s abduction and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children and calls for their return before any peace agreement is reached.
“Putin is a war criminal and, under his watch, the Russian military has cruelly abducted and illegally deported tens of thousands of Ukrainian children from their homeland. These atrocities are not isolated incidents; they are the direct result of Putin’s war of choice,” said Rep. Meeks.
He also emphasized that the US must condemn these unacceptable actions by Russia and demand the immediate return of every abducted child.
Congressman Michael McCaul, in turn, noted that since the start of the full-scale war, Russia has forcibly relocated at least 19,500 Ukrainian children, according to official data. Other estimates suggest the number could be as high as 200,000.
“These children have been stripped of their national identity, adopted into Russian families, or indoctrinated as soldiers for the Kremlin. As a father, I can’t imagine the pain their families have experienced. Russia’s mass-scale child abduction is nothing short of evil; the United States must demonstrate moral leadership by demanding every child be returned to his or her family in Ukraine before true peace can be achieved,” McCaul stressed.
A similar resolution has been introduced in the Senate by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children
As of April 16, 2024, Ukrainian authorities have documented at least 19,546 cases of the illegal deportation or forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia and Belarus from temporarily occupied territories.
These acts are often accompanied by attempts to erase the children's national identity through changes in their names, language, and citizenship. With the help of international partners, Ukraine has managed to return only 1,274 children to date.
According to the US Department of State’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report, Russia has been designated as a country that recruits or uses children in armed conflicts, carries out state-sponsored or systematic human trafficking practices, and ranks among the world’s largest hubs of human trafficking.
During recent discussions on prisoner exchanges, the Russian side reportedly proposed trading abducted Ukrainian children for their captured soldiers.
Just days ago, several Ukrainian teenagers were successfully returned from temporarily occupied territories as part of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative.
