Pursuant to the instruction of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak held a videoconference meeting with UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
The meeting was also attended by Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, Advisor - President's Commissioner for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation Daria Herasymchuk and Advisors to the Head of the Presidential Office Daria Zarivna and Oleksandr Bevz.
The parties discussed ways to strengthen cooperation to stop the violation of the rights of Ukrainian children by the Russian Federation, in particular their illegal deportation from the territory of Ukraine.
"We expect UNICEF to play one of the most important roles in this cooperation, given the organization's extensive experience and respect of the international community," the Head of the Presidential Office said.
Andriy Yermak emphasized that involvement of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors - famous and popular people - in highlighting the problem of Russia's violation of the rights of Ukrainian children will draw worldwide attention to this topic.
The Head of the Office of the President emphasized that the problem of deportation of underage citizens of Ukraine by the aggressor state is extremely acute. According to officially confirmed data alone, 19391 Ukrainian children were illegally deported to the Russian Federation, Belarus or forcibly relocated to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. 470 children were killed or died, 949 children were wounded, and 406 are missing.
"The aggressor state is not just taking children away, it is deliberately destroying their national identity: it is doing everything to make children forget the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian history, and their relatives," emphasized Andriy Yermak.
For her part, Catherine Russell expressed concern about what is happening to Ukrainian children amid the aggressive war launched by Russia. According to her, the UNICEF team is doing everything possible to protect their rights.
The parties agreed to continue active cooperation, in particular through the Ukrainian office of UNICEF.