Lithuania allocates €10 million for efforts to return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia

Lithuania has pledged to allocate more than €10 million to support initiatives related to the return of children abducted by Russia, as well as psychological and medical rehabilitation, strengthening the child protection system and ensuring accountability for crimes.

As reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, on 11 May in Brussels, on the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys met with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha.

The ministers signed a joint declaration in which Lithuania committed more than €10 million to support the initiatives.

The funding will be directed towards specific projects aimed at helping children return home, recover from trauma and safely reintegrate into their communities.

Budrys said that the fate of Ukrainian children was a test of shared values and that deportations and attempts to erase their identity formed part of Russia's brutal aggression. He added that Lithuania would support Ukraine not only with words, but also through concrete actions, investments and long-term commitments.

As previously reported by European Pravda, the European Union is also planning to impose new sanctions on Russians involved in the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children on 11 May.

The sanctions are expected to be announced during a high-level meeting co-chaired by the EU, Ukraine and Canada, aimed at outlining concrete steps for returning children abducted by Russia to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable.