H.E. Ms Larysa Gerasko:

The confirmed number of children is over 20,000. We have documents and evidence that these children were abducted and actually forcibly displaced to Russia. However, we are working hard just to get more information and more documents to confirm other cases because according to our data, the number is higher. The actual number is more like 100,000. For instance, parents lost their children. They were taken under the pretext of summer camps in occupied territories and were moved deeper into regions of Russia and parents cannot find them. Of course, Russia does not recognise or confirm this fact. In other cases, children lost their relatives, either parents or grandparents. Russia more or less communicates with relatives, but if these children lost relatives, Russia does not want to communicate with Ukrainian authorities. We use mediators, for instance, Qatar is one of the mediators in these cases, to try to return our children. A few months ago, just a few of them were returned. Last December, we invited our commissioner of children's rights to Ireland. We had a discussion at an event at the Institute of International and European Affairs, IIEA, and she brought with her two abducted teenagers who had been returned to Ukraine. They shared their stories. Believe me, we have so many such cases.