Sybiha: Russia proposed including children on exchange lists

The Russian side proposed including abducted Ukrainian children on exchange lists.

This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha during a meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children in Brussels, Ukrinform reports.

He called such a proposal by the Russian Federation "unacceptable", because the return of Ukrainian children "should be an integral part of the peace process".

"Today I want to state this officially: the fate of Ukrainian children will never be part of any compromise. Russia has already proposed including children on exchange lists. But this is unacceptable. The freedom of children is unconditional," Sybiha emphasized.

According to him, the Russians are trying to downplay the importance of the topic of the return of Ukrainian children and are demanding that it be removed from the agenda because, they say, they understand that they are committing a crime and are afraid of justice.

Sybiha stated that Ukraine has already returned over 2 000 children, but this was not achieved thanks to the work of international instruments, but on the contrary — despite the fact that they did not work.

"When we talk about children who were actually returned, certain countries helped — such as Qatar, the USA, the Holy See [...] Our special services and state institutions worked," the minister noted.

Deportation of children from Ukraine

The deportation of Ukrainian children is one of Russiaʼs war crimes, for which the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin and the Russian childrenʼs ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. Ukraine also has evidence that Belarus is participating in the deportation of Ukrainian children.

On December 3, 2025, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding the return of all illegally removed Ukrainian children.

Ukraine has officially confirmed that Russia has abducted about 20 000 Ukrainian children. The Russians themselves claim that they have taken away 744 000 children.

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