Coalition for return of abducted Ukrainian children expands to 49 countries

Cyprus, Switzerland, Monaco and Panama have joined the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children abducted by Russia. The coalition now comprises 49 members.

"The Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children has been useful because it has garnered international attention on an issue that Russia wants the world to forget. Now we have 49 members. Since the last high-level meeting, in fact, Cyprus, Switzerland, Monaco, Panama and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly have joined," Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said.

Anand stressed that the growing number of coalition members "is a sign that more and more countries find it completely reprehensible, as does Canada, that Russia is stealing Ukrainian children, indoctrinating Ukrainian children and refusing to return these children to their families".

On 11 May, the United Kingdom announced a new package of sanctions against Russia over the abduction of Ukrainian children.

On the same day, the Council of the European Union imposed sanctions on individuals and legal entities responsible for the abduction of Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories.

The sanctions were announced at a high-level meeting co-chaired by the EU, Ukraine and Canada that aims to plan specific steps to bring children abducted by Russia back to Ukraine and to hold Russia accountable.

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