European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos says that Russia must be held accountable for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
Arriving on Monday in Brussels for a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, after which a meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children will also take place, she said:
“We will have a very important high-level meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. We are organizing this together with Canada and Ukraine, and together with representatives of nearly 60 countries we will discuss three topics. The first is how to return the children. The second is how to care for them and their families after their return. And the third very important topic is holding Russia accountable for this.”
According to Kos, “war has many faces, but the abduction of children is truly one of the most horrific.”
“We must stop this, and Russia must pay for it,” the European Commissioner said.
She noted that there are “many levels” to the strategy for returning Ukrainian children.
“First, we need a system, and that system already exists thanks to Ukraine, because the Ministry of Justice has created a good system. We need sufficient funding to be able to find these children. And what is also very important is the diplomatic level. With the help of all participating countries, we must raise awareness of what Russia is actually doing,” Kos explained.
The European Commissioner expects that “with the help of all these countries we will return as many as possible of more than 20,000 abducted children.”
