Arsenii Pushkarenko: russia continues to abduct children and take new civilian hostages, which is why effective mechanisms are needed to bring all Ukrainians home.
30 April 2025, 13:27
A closed meeting was held in Zhytomyr with representatives of the diplomatic corps of the international coalition to discuss the fourth point of the Peace Formula — the return of deported Ukrainian children, civilian hostages, and prisoners of war.
Participants focused on identifying effective mechanisms to ensure that all Ukrainians can return home.
This was reported by Member of Parliament and Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, Arsenii Pushkarenko.
«Together with the Ombudsman of Ukraine, Dmytro Lubinets, we held this meeting. Of course, the efforts of our international partners to return our deported children, civilian hostages, and prisoners of war will only intensify. We discussed and developed proposals on a ceasefire, the future negotiation process, and the mechanisms that could be effective in bringing all Ukrainians home.Currently, around 20,000 deported children are officially known, but this number continues to grow, as russia returns some while continuing to deport others. The same goes for civilians — they were, and still are, being taken hostage,» the politician noted.
According to him, the issue of Ukrainian prisoners of war remains deeply painful, as the occupiers still do not allow Red Cross representatives access to them.
«We are not able to verify the identities of all Ukrainian prisoners of war. Even now, some of those returning from captivity were previously listed as missing. Therefore, in the case of an ‘all-for-all’ exchange, as proposed by Ukraine, we cannot be certain that russia will truly return all of our people. We must verify them and develop effective mechanisms to ensure that every one of our citizens comes home,» - emphasized the Deputy of Parliament.