Canada has proposed the creation of an international coalition of countries to help return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, the Ukrainian the President’s Office reported on Oct. 29 after the third meeting in Malta on the Ukraine Peace Formula.
The proposal was supported by many other countries, and the initiative will be a continuation of the President Zelenskyy’s “BRING KIDS BACK UA” plan, the President’s Office said.
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“The proposal for an international coalition is an element of the plan for the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula with regard to the return of deported children, the release of civilian hostages and prisoners of war, which was prepared and presented in Malta by an international working group consisting of representatives of almost 30 countries and international organizations,” the President’s Office said.
Canada is one of the states leading in the implementation of the fourth point of the Ukrainian peace formula – the return of prisoners of war and deportees.
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“The Russian Federation continues its unprovoked, brutal war against Ukraine,” the President’s Office said.
“The mass deportation and targeted abduction of Ukrainian children for their further Russification is a planned genocidal policy of the Russian Federation. In addition, there are thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in Russian captivity who need help. Russia does not provide access to international organizations, such as the United Nations (UN) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to monitor the conditions of their detention.”
Read also: Qatar helps negotiate return to Ukraine of four children abducted by Russia
Russia has agreed to return four children it abducted from Ukraine after talks mediated by Qatar, U.S. newspaper the Washington Post reported on Oct. 16, citing a representative of the Qatari government.
Andriy Yermak, the Presidential Administration head, confirmed this information. Three boys, aged three, six and nine, and a 17-year-old girl have returned to Ukraine.
Ukrainian state platform Children of War has said that at least 19,546 children had been deported or forcibly relocated by Russia, as of Sept. 27.
On March 17, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on suspicion of committing war crimes in connection with the abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia.
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On April 27, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution recognizing the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia as genocide.
The European Parliament estimates the number of Ukrainian children illegally deported to Russia may reach as many as 300,000. Its MPs believe that the Russians began to relocate Ukrainian children back in 2014, after the occupation of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine