If only confirmed cases are considered, “19,390 Ukrainian children are still in captivity”, said Olena Zelenska, wife of President Zelensky, in a video conference address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which met on Thursday 27 April to discuss a report on the forcible transfer and “russification” of Ukrainian children.
“This is what evil looks like”, the Ukrainian first lady concluded, after telling the stories of children from Mariupol and Kherson, some of whom were reclaimed by their families a day before their adoption.
Ukrainian MEP Yevheniia Kravchuk (ALDE) denounced the implementation of “a real state machine” in the service of “genocide” and “barbarism”.
This view was confirmed by the assembly, which overwhelmingly adopted a resolution based on the report by Portuguese socialist Paulo Pisco.
The text denounces practices that were “clearly planned as part of a state policy”, involving “all levels of political decision-making” and “carried out by administrative bodies and state institutions of the Russian Federation”.
The Assembly urges Council of Europe Member States to gather evidence of crimes - including genocide - committed by the Russian Federation, calls for access to Russia for the UN, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent to gather information on deported children and welcomes the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue war crimes warrants for President Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.
“There are only two suspects, but there are many more”, said Olena Zelenska, denouncing “a whole mechanism put in place by Russia to alienate Ukrainian children”.
Link to the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/6mh (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)