May 20, 2025
Mr. Grassley (for himself, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Fetterman, and Mr. Scott of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
Calling for the return of abducted Ukrainian children before finalizing any peace agreement to end the war against Ukraine.
Whereas the United States Government is working to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine and restore peace in Europe;
Whereas, as of April 16, 2025, Ukrainian authorities have received at least 19,546 confirmed reports of unlawful deportations and forced transfers of Ukrainian children to the territory of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, or Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory;
Whereas, as of April 16, 2025, Ukraine and its partners have managed to return 1,274 abducted Ukrainian children from the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, or occupied Ukrainian territory;
Whereas Russia’s abduction and Russification of Ukrainian children demonstrates the intent of the Government of the Russian Federation to erase the Ukrainian nation and identity;
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has changed its adoption laws since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 for the purpose of forcibly adopting children abducted from Ukraine in order to raise them as Russian citizens, erased of their Ukrainian names, language, and identity;
Whereas, on June 16, 2022, Russian authorities announced that children born in occupied Ukrainian territories after the February 24, 2022, invasion will be deemed Russian citizens, in violation of Ukrainian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention;
Whereas the Department of State’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report found that Russia recruits or uses child soldiers as defined under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, is documented as having a state-sponsored policy or pattern of human trafficking, and is among the worst hubs for human trafficking in the world;
Whereas the United States has sanctioned at least 32 individuals and three entities of the Russian Federation and its occupying forces and the Republic of Belarus for being involved in the abduction and re-education of Ukrainian children and human rights violations of Ukrainian minors;
Whereas Maria Lvova-Belova, Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of Russia, admitted to abducting and forcibly transferring Ukrainian children and facilitating forced adoptions to Russian families;
Whereas the unlawful deportation or transfer of protected people constitutes a grave breach of the Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Article 147, done at Geneva August 12, 1949;
Whereas forcibly transferring children of one group to another group is a violation of Article II(e) of the Genocide Convention, of which the Russian Federation is a party; and
Whereas hundreds of thousands of children still reside in the occupied territories of Ukraine, where they face attempts at Russification by occupation authorities; Now, therefore, be it
That the Senate—
(1)
condemns the Government of the Russian Federation’s abduction, forcible transfer, and facilitation of the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children;
(2)
notes with concern that the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation has significantly increased the risks of children being exposed to human trafficking and exploitation, child labor, sexual violence, hunger, injury, trauma, deprivation of education and shelter, and death;
(3)
supports bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful and just conclusion; and
(4)
urges that all Ukrainian children abducted by the Government of the Russian Federation be returned before finalizing any peace agreement.