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The Kremlin has removed at least 19,546 Ukrainian children from their families for re-education as Russians according to Kyiv, a war crime that has prompted the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Putin. Of those taken, only 1,399 have been returned to Ukraine, through volunteers or relatives travelling vast distances, or in agreements brokered by third countries such as South Africa, Qatar or the Vatican.’
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During the Istanbul peace talks between the two warring sides last month, the Ukrainian delegation gave their Kremlin counterparts a list of 339 Ukrainian children being held in Russia, Zarivna said. “It wasn’t a full list. It was a test… a small first step,” she said. “It was a way to see whether Russia is truly prepared to begin the process of returning Ukrainian children.”
In public, Russia denied that any of the 339 children had been abducted. But privately, the Russian side “suggested swapping [the children] like poker chips for Russian prisoners of war,” Zarivna said. The idea of trading children was as abhorrent for the Americans as the Ukrainians, she said, and slowly the Trump administration began to understand the nature of Putin’s regime.
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That’s a very charitable way of interpreting Trump’s latest reversal. I’m sure she’s just being diplomatic, but she’s offering Trump and his ilk far more grace than they deserve. That alone is strength I don’t think I could match.