This year, russia has intensified executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Currently, Ukraine is investigating 49 criminal cases over the killing of 124 of them. According to the UN, 95% of Ukrainian prisoners of war were tortured in russian captivity.

This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha during his speech at the ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council dedicated to 1000 days of resistance of the Ukrainian people to full-scale russian aggression.

The Foreign Minister emphasized that one of the most brutal consequences of this war is mass crimes against children. He added that russia not only kills Ukrainian children, but also takes away their future.

“Some of the most horrible crimes of this war are crimes against Ukrainian children. russia stole every Ukrainian child’s normal childhood. At least 659 children were killed by russia since 2022 – numbers that continue to rise. This is the price of the war. And let me be clear. For us, in Ukraine, there is no difference where a child suffers. In Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America, or other regions. No child in the world deserves to suffer from the war,” the Minister emphasized.

Andrii Sybiha also stated that thousands of Ukrainian children had become hostages of russian aggression, being forcibly russified and losing contact with their families. The Foreign Minister reminded that these actions violated several international conventions.

“The forcible deportation of at least 20 thousand Ukrainian children might be the largest state-run children kidnapping operation in history. Thousands of them stay in russia. They are subjected to indoctrination, forced russian citizenship, adoption or foster placement with russian families, and even name changes. These actions by russia violate the Genocide Convention, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Fourth Geneva Convention,” the Minister emphasized.

Addressing the audience, the Foreign Minister recalled the moral obligation of the participants of the Ministerial Conference on the Human Dimension in Montreal to return illegally deported children to their families.

“I refer to the Montreal Pledge, made by participants in the recent Ministerial Conference on the Human Dimension of the Peace Formula. They pledged assistance for the return of children. I urge everyone to join these noble efforts,” he said.

Andrii Sybiha called on the international community to unite to create new mechanisms for prosecuting the crime of aggression. According to him, the scale of russian crimes in Ukraine demonstrates that the existing instruments have exhausted themselves.

“The list of russian atrocities committed in Ukraine proves that the current international tools are not working. We need new mechanisms to ensure accountability for the crime of aggression and all subsequent crimes. If this requires setting a precedent, let’s set a precedent. If this requires amending the Rome Statute, let’s amend it. We must act to restore international peace and security,” the Minister summarized.