Deportation and Militarization of Ukrainian Children in the European Parliament: Deputy Speaker Olena Kondratiuk on the Outcomes of the Debates
11 November 2026, 20:55
Debates titled “Ukrainian Children Forcibly Deported to russia or Living in the Territories of Ukraine Occupied by russia” were held in the European Parliament.
This was announced by Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk, who attended the debates at the invitation of the European Parliament leadership.
“We expect the adoption of a relevant resolution. Preliminarily, the text of the resolution will be very strong! The European Parliament intends to state that russia’s actions against Ukrainian children meet the legal definition of genocide and calls on EU Member States to officially recognize them as such,” emphasized Olena Kondratiuk.
The debates were held at the joint initiative of Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk and Vice-President of the European Parliament Ewa Kopacz.
“For the first time during the debates, emphasis was placed not only on Ukrainian children abducted and deported to russia, but also on the fate of those residing in the temporarily occupied territories — which amounts to at least 1.6 million children,” noted Olena Kondratiuk.
According to her, this is not the first resolution dedicated to Ukrainian children that the European Parliament has debated and intends to adopt: “However, it is crucial for us that this resolution specifically addresses the militarization and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.
This was also emphasized by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, in her opening remarks. She stressed that there is extensive evidence of a russian-orchestrated campaign involving the deportation, militarization, and identity erasure of Ukrainian children, as corroborated by this year’s OSCE report. According to Kaja Kallas, all of this provides every ground to speak of russia committing a crime against humanity.
Six political groups of the European Parliament submitted their draft resolutions, and their representatives also delivered speeches during the debates.”
During the debates, Vice-President of the European Parliament Ewa Kopacz spoke on behalf of the largest political group, the European People’s Party (EPP). She urged to look at this war through the eyes of Ukrainian children whom russia separates from their families, subjects to forced adoption, strips of their identity, and prohibits from speaking Ukrainian.
“This plenary week, at all my meetings in the European Parliament I will also speak about the next important steps: the need to strengthen sanctions against all those involved in crimes against children and to harmonize the sanctions lists. This is about justice and responsibility. Behind every russian crime against Ukrainian children, there are specific organizations and individuals who cannot be unpunished,” noted Deputy Speaker Olena Kondratiuk.
In conclusion, the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine noted that thanks to these debates, ideologically diverse political groups of the European Parliament turned their attention to the sensitive issue of russia’s crimes against Ukrainian children.
“This is crucial for raising awareness and advocating for sanctions. The rejection of russia’s crimes against Ukrainian children unites even those political forces in the European Parliament that are not always favorably disposed toward Ukraine. Because the evil that russia perpetrates against Ukrainian children categorically contradicts all European values and humanity itself,” Olena Kondratiuk concluded.