Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha met with Vanessa Frazee, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, on 13 April, according to his press service. Sybiha told Frazee that "sustainable peace is impossible without the return of Ukrainian children home."
More than 2,000 children have been returned, he said, but many remain deported by Russia.
"Russia is systematically changing Ukrainian children’s documents, placing them in foster families, including in remote regions of Russia. Moreover, it is attempting to erase their identity by different means. Even more cynically, it is instrumentalizing children in this war — using them as leverage in negotiations," Sybiha said.
He described these actions as gross violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes.
What the two sides discussed
According to the press service, Sybiha and Frazee discussed practical steps to end the violations, the implementation of the relevant UN General Assembly resolution on the return of Ukrainian children, and strengthening international accountability efforts.
The figures — and the gap between them
Official Ukrainian data puts the number of children who ended up in Russia or occupied territories since the start of the full-scale war at over 20,000. The range widens considerably from there. Ukraine's Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets has estimated that Russia illegally removed approximately 150,000 children from Ukraine. Ukraine's Parliamentary Commissioner for Children's Rights Darya Gerasymchuk has cited a figure of "several hundred thousand — somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000."
Russia's own children's ombudsman, Maria Lvova-Belova, stated in July 2023 that Russia had "accepted" approximately 4.8 million Ukrainian residents since the start of the full-scale invasion, including more than 700,000 children — claiming the majority arrived with parents or other relatives.
UN commission, ICC findings
In March, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine classified the deportation, illegal transfer, and enforced disappearance of children from Ukrainian occupied territories as a crime against humanity, and the delay in their repatriation to Ukraine as a war crime.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lvova-Belova on suspicion of war crimes — specifically the forcible deportation and transfer of children from occupied Ukrainian territories.
