Thousands of individuals abducted since Russia’s invasion began three and a half years ago are once more at the forefront of international discussions as NATO leaders convened to address the conflict.
Following Russia’s devastating 2022 invasion, Ukrainian children have been among the war’s primary victims, with Kyiv confirming at least 19,546 instances of unlawful deportation and forced transfer of children to Russia, Belarus, or Russian-occupied territory, carried out by Russian authorities.
Certain reports have indicated that the number of Ukrainian children forcibly transported could be considerably higher, potentially approaching 35,000 abductions, with fears that many have been illegally adopted.
Digital could not confirm if the leaders, who met on Wednesday for a briefing by U.S. military leaders, will include methods to remedy the extensive human rights violations targeting Ukrainian children as they seek to establish security guarantees, possibly as early as this week.
However, the President, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, followed by a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO leaders on Monday, stated that the issue of forcibly deported Ukrainian children “is a subject at the top of all lists.”
The matter gained renewed attention after a letter from the first lady to Putin, which Trump personally delivered during his meeting on Friday, in which she declared “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, initially obtained by Digital, was championed by Kyiv.
To surprise Trump by 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 regarding 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, such as Qatar and the Vatican, though reporting suggests only some by Russian authorities.
Ukrainian negotiators have been advocating for the return of the Ukrainian children for months during their meetings with Russian counterparts in Turkey.
While prisoner-of-war exchanges have been agreed upon, Zelenskyy stated that Russian officials have refused to directly hand over any Ukrainian children to Kyiv.
“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 involvement of other parties.
“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.”