Ukraine's foreign affairs minister urges OSCE to help with return of deported children and civilian captives from Russia

Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has raised the question of the liberation of civilians from Russian captivity and bringing back deported Ukrainian children from Russia during the talks with his Maltese counterpart and acting head of the OSCE, Ian Borg, in Kyiv on 2 February.

Source: European Pravda with reference to Kuleba at the briefing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Details: Kuleba stated that the talks with his Maltese counterpart touched on "the intensification of documenting Russia’s crimes in Ukraine by the OSCE, specifically war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine".

Quote: "Special attention was paid to the illegal Russian practice of kidnapping civilian children, as well as to the protection of civilian captives and forcible passportization."

"I called upon the OSCE to urgently take additional steps and do everything within its power to deal with the problem of kidnapped Ukrainian children and civilian captives," Kuleba added.

He separately mentioned the so-called elections of the president of Russia in March, in the temporarily occupied territories as well, and urged the OSCE to "react to these unlawful actions".

Background: The statement by Kuleba was made the same day that Canada and Ukraine held a meeting of the newly-created International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, during which the framework document on the operation of the coalition was presented.

On 25 January, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) approved a resolution addressing the situation of Ukrainian children, including those abducted and subjected to Russian attempts to erase their identity, as well as those who have found refuge in the EU.

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