President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia suggested exchanging Russian prisoners of war for children abducted from Ukraine, which is a violation of international law.
Source: Zelenskyy during a joint press conference in Vienna with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen
Quote: “The Russians proposed that we give them soldiers and they give us children. This is beyond comprehension and beyond international law. Well, that’s typical of them. And that’s why the children must be brought back, and here, probably, the art of diplomacy is needed.”
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Details: Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is involving a large number of countries and proactive people in the process of bringing back the children.
“And that is why we are involving so many countries, so many proactive people, who, little by little, each doing as much as they can, will ensure that the thousands of children stolen by Russia come home,” he added.
Background:
A journalist from The Economist reported that during the Istanbul negotiations, Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, was dismissive of Ukraine’s demand that the children who have been deported to Russia be returned. Medinsky reportedly described the handover of the list of children as “a show for bleeding-heart European old ladies with no children of their own”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that during the talks in Istanbul on 2 June, the Russian delegation effectively acknowledged that Russia has abducted Ukrainian children, but refused to discuss the exact number.
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