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The thousands of Ukrainian children abducted since Russia’s invasion began three-and-a-half-years-ago are once again at the forefront of international discussions as NATO leaders convened to discuss the war.
Following Russia’s deadly 2022 invasion, Ukrainian children have been among the war’s chief victims, with Kyiv confirming that there have been at least 19,546 cases of unlawful deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, Belarus, or Russian-occupied territory, by Russian authorities.
Some reports have suggested the number of forcibly transported Ukrainian children could be significantly higher, ranging closer to 35,000 abductions – many of whom are feared to have been illegally adopted.
A girl waves while sitting in an evacuation bus on Sept. 17, 2024 in Pokrovsk, Ukraine. (Yan Dobronosov/ Global Image Ukraine via Getty Images)
‘JUST EVIL’: TOP REPUBLICAN DETAILS RUSSIA’S ‘HORRIFIC’ MASS ABDUCTIONS OF UKRAINIAN CHILDREN
Fox News Digital could not confirm if NATO leaders, who convened on Wednesday for a debrief by U.S. military leaders, will include how to remedy the immense human rights violations targeting Ukrainian children as they look to establish security guarantees, possibly as soon as this week.
But President Donald Trump, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday followed by a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO leaders on Monday, said the issue of forcibly deported Ukrainian children “is a subject at the top of all lists.”
The issue was reignited after First Lady Melania Trump sent a letter to Putin, which Trump hand-delivered during his meeting on Friday, in which she said, “it is time” to restore children’s “dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger.”
“A simple yet profound concept, Mr. Putin, as I am sure you agree, is that each generation’s descendants begin their lives with a purity—an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology,” she wrote.
The first lady did not specifically mention the war in Ukraine, though her letter, first obtained by Fox News Digital, was championed by Kyiv.
Denys Zaporozhchenko (L) meets his children Nikita, Yana and Dayana (R) after the bus delivering them and more than a dozen other children back from Russian-held territory arrived in Kyiv on March 22, 2023. (Sergei Chuzavkov/AFP via Getty Images)
UKRAINE’S ‘UNDERGROUND RAILROAD’ RESCUES ABDUCTED UKRAINIAN CHILDREN FROM RUSSIAN REEDUCATION CAMPS
Zelenskyy appeared to surprise Trump by in turn handing him a letter written by his wife, Olena Zelenska, intended for the first lady.
The contents of the second letter have not been disclosed, but Trump noted his wife’s compassion when it comes to the issue of children – a topic Zelenska has also worked to address.
“She sees the heartbreak, the parents, the funerals that you see on television, always funerals,” Trump said.
Some children have been returned to Ukraine incrementally through the help of third-party mediators, like Qatar and the Vatican, though reporting suggests only some 1,500 have been released by Russian authorities.
Ukrainian negotiators have been pushing for the return of the Ukrainian children for months as they meet with Russian counterparts in Turkey.
While prisoner-of-war swaps have been agreed to, Zelenskyy said Russian officials have refused to hand over any Ukrainian children directly to Kyiv.
Illustration picture shows a symbolic action led by members of Avaaz and Ukrainian refugees with the deposit of thousands of teddy bears and toys representing the thousands of children abducted following the war in Ukraine, at the Rond-point Schuman, in Brussels, Feb. 23, 2023. (Nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images)
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“We cannot reach an agreement with them on the return of the children,” Zelenskyy told reporters last week, adding that despite attempts it remains “impossible” without the help of other parties involved.
“That is why we wanted to get certain matters settled in this trilateral track: ceasefire, an all-for-all exchange, and the return of children,” he added. “This is something everyone benefits from: President Trump benefits, the Russians lose nothing, the Ukrainians lose nothing. It’s a fair compromise.”