Britain in UN Security Council: Russia is using Ukrainian children as tool of war. Aren’t you ashamed?
Stephen Doughty, the UK's Minister of State for Europe, North America, and Overseas Territories, said that Russia is basically turning Ukrainian kids into tools of war, especially by forcibly taking them away and constantly shelling them.
The minister made this statement on Tuesday at a meeting of the UN Security Council, according to Censor.NET, citing Ukrinform.
Children's testimonies about forced deportations and identity changes
According to him, in September he met with Ukrainian children who had been forcibly taken from the occupied territories of Ukraine by Russia.
"They told me how they were separated from their families and forced to adopt new identities," Dauti said.
He noted that in his office there is a drawing by a Ukrainian child who managed to leave Russia and is now undergoing treatment after everything he has been through.
Russia is doing this to tens of thousands of children, using them as instruments of war. And I must ask the Russian representative: aren't you ashamed? This must stop," the minister stressed.
According to the official, since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian children have spent 4,000 hours under air raid sirens, which is equivalent to more than five months.
Doughty reminded us that constant sirens, power cuts, fear, and loss seriously damage children's mental health. "Generations are being deprived of the security and peace that every child in the world deserves," he stressed.
The return of abducted children as a condition for a just peace
The minister stressed that the return of abducted children is one of the key elements of a just peace.
"Peace must include... the return of all abducted children and prisoners of war, and justice for the crimes committed," Dauti said.
Він додав, що Велика Британія підтримує зусилля, спрямовані на повернення українських дітей та притягнення винних до відповідальності.
