The United Kingdom has accused Russia of forcibly deporting thousands of Ukrainian children and pursuing a “systematic effort to erase Ukrainian identity”, during a strong statement delivered before the United Nations Security Council.
According to figures from the Ukrainian government, corroborated by international independent mechanisms, more than 19,500 Ukrainian children have been forcibly transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied territories since the start of the invasion.
An additional 1.6 million children remain under Russian occupation, where they are reportedly forced to follow Russian school curricula, exposed to state propaganda, and subjected to militarized training programmes.
“Russia is using children as instruments of war and attempting to destroy Ukraine’s future,” the UK representative told the Security Council.
The UK further condemned Russia’s ongoing attacks on civilian areas, highlighting that over 3,000 children are among the 53,000 verified civilian casualties since the start of the full-scale invasion.
British officials noted that 358 schools and kindergartens have been completely destroyed, including a recent airstrike that hit a kindergarten in Kharkiv.
London has called on Moscow to immediately halt all forced transfers, withdraw its troops from Ukraine, and enable the safe and supervised return of all Ukrainian children under UN oversight.
“Every second that Russia continues this unjustifiable war, another Ukrainian child loses their childhood,” the UK statement concluded.
