In her latest critique of the Russian state, U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., is calling for the return of over 19,000 Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine began in 2021.
The Senator’s comments came during a recent Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing where both Democratic and Republican lawmakers decried Russia’s mass-kidnapping and relocation of Ukrainian children.
“I hope that this goes to the heart of every parent across our nation, every one. I mean, think about your child being ripped from your arms. Think about not knowing where your kids are on their birthday or milestones or tragic experiences,” Britt said during the hearing.
“I think allowing this to occur as a nation, it goes against the very fabric of who we are as a country … I join you in asking our European allies to step up and to do the very same thing that we’re doing today, but we are here today because America must do something,” the senator continued. “And you cannot be a great nation if you are unwilling to do good. And there is no doubt that these kids need us. They need us to raise our voice.”
Britt also applauded her fellow lawmakers, U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-SC; Richard Blumenthal, D-CT; and Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, as well as First Lady Melania Trump, for bringing attention to the issue.
“I want to thank the First Lady for her tireless effort on this. Senator Graham, I want to thank you, Senator Blumenthal, [and] Senator Klobuchar,” Britt stated. “[I] stand with you in bringing every one of these kids home and appreciate this. And I think we have a moral obligation to keep this going until we get every last one of them back into their parents’ arms.”
Graham, Blumenthal, Klobuchar and Britt are all also sponsors of the Designating the Russian Federation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act, a bill which–as its name implies–would designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism due to the harm it has inflicted upon Ukrainian children–including the abduction of Ukrainian children with the intent to re-educate and “Russify” them.
Russia’s ongoing practice of kidnapping Ukrainian children has been well-documented since the onset of the war and has been met with international condemnation. In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on war crime charges, deeming that both Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Putin’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, were “allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”