Mark Carney and Volodymyr Zelenskiy sought to rally global support for the return of thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, an issue that may resonate with the US administration even as it pulls back on financial and military aid for Ukraine.
The leaders of Canada and Ukraine co-hosted an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly that focused on the nearly 20,000 children forcibly removed by Russia. The matter has previously caught the attention of First Lady Melania Trump, who wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in August urging him to end the war in order to protect affected children.
“Putin has stolen your children,” Carney said in prepared remarks on Tuesday. “To lose their child is every parents’ nightmare. For the people of Ukraine, it is a horrifying reality.”
Canada’s prime minister said Russia has targeted vulnerable kids such as orphans or those living in poverty, and its soldiers have even barged into classrooms and rounded them up.
Russia is facing accusations of starting this practice when the war began in 2014 and ramping up the abductions after its full-scale invasion in 2022. Some children were forcibly separated from their parents, while others were taken after their caregivers were killed or captured. Still others were seized from state institutions. They have been relocated to Russia or occupied parts of Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of war crimes. Some children have reported they were subjected to Russian propaganda and maltreatment while in the country.
“Russia has sought to erase these children’s Ukrainian identity by restricting their access to the Ukrainian language and history, imposing Russian citizenship and limiting access to alternative sources of information,” the Canadian government said in a background document.
Russia denies it abducts Ukrainian kids. Vladimir Medinsky, who led Russian delegation talks with Ukrainians in Turkey in June when both sides discussed the issue, accused Ukraine of “creating a show for kind-hearted Europeans” and said Russia is returning children when their families are found.
Canada and Ukraine have co-chaired the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children since 2024, and say some 1,300 kids have been brought back to their home nation. Canada believes this issue of “fundamental human rights” must be at the forefront of the international agenda, and it appreciates the US First Lady’s “leadership” and Donald Trump’s “engagement” on the matter, a government official told reporters in a background briefing.
In his remarks, Carney welcomed Melania Trump’s “powerful appeal” to Putin and the “transformative leadership” of the US president in creating new possibilities for peace.
Still, the Trump administration cut funding to a US-based program that had tracked thousands of abducted Ukrainian children. A Yale University lab that had been part of the program — and received some private donations following the funding cut — recently published a study that found Russia had taken Ukrainian children to facilities where they were subjected to re-education and military training.
Carney’s wife, Diana Fox Carney, and Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska were also set to speak at the event, along with several European ministers and heads of state.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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