Olena Zelenska stated that the priority is the return of children abducted by the Russian Federation: details.

The First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, stated that the return of Ukrainian children kidnapped by the Russian Federation must be a priority. She noted that this moment is one of the most painful consequences of the war.

What Olena Zelenska said about the return of children

'For all Ukrainians, this is one of the most painful consequences of this war. We were unable to protect their rights (the rights of Ukrainian children — ed.), when the Russians took them — without consent, without documents, without any transparency,' the First Lady stated.

The publication noted that Ukraine is making efforts to locate and return children that Russian troops have abducted since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Many of them were taken from schools, orphanages, or directly from families during the occupation.

Thousands of children were taken under procedures that the Kremlin called 'evacuation.' In reality, this is about forced deportation. There have been cases where entire boarding schools were emptied, and the students were loaded onto buses, after which they disappeared without a trace. Ukrainian social services tried to find them, but due to Russian control over the occupied territories, these efforts had limited results.

Olena Zelenska reminded that in the first weeks of the Russian invasion, civilians did not have the opportunity to evacuate freely.

'There were no green corridors. Anyone trying to leave for areas controlled by Ukraine risked being shot, even families with children,' she said, adding that the only open direction was towards the Russian Federation.