Marc Veasey urges return of Ukrainian children allegedly taken by Russia

Marc Veasey addressing an assembly condemned what they called a campaign by Russian authorities to abduct and re-educate Ukrainian children and urged that returning those children be part of any negotiated end to the war.

Mr. Veasey said the abuses included forcible adoption, trafficking, placement in reeducation camps and attendance at Russian government-run schools. "I wanna talk about the war against children, specifically the war against Ukrainian children," the speaker said, adding that many children are at risk of "forcible adoption by Russian families, abuse, and even trafficking."

The speaker repeated a numeric claim about the scale of the problem: "Russian forces have kidnapped tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia and Russian occupied territories," and said boys are being "raised to kill Ukrainians as future soldiers in Russia's army." The speaker called the practices a direct assault on Ukrainian identity and on the country's future.

"I stand with my colleagues in Europe and my Ukrainian colleagues here today in demanding that Russia return the children that it has stolen," the speaker said. They added that "Any negotiated settlement to this war must include the return of all Ukrainian civilian hostages and the children Russia has kidnapped." The speaker also said, "Putin must not be allowed to continue his genocidal project against the Ukrainian people and against the future of Ukraine, which is its children."

The transcript records this monologue without recorded responses or formal actions in the same segment. The claims and numeric estimates above are reported here as assertions the speaker made during the remarks; the transcript does not include corroboration, a response, or a formal vote recorded in this segment.