Yermak meets with United24 ambassadors to discuss return of children deported to Russia

As the President’s Office informs, Yermak met with French film director Michel Hazanavicius, American actress from Ukraine Ivanna Sakhno, Canadian actress Katheryn Winnick, American actor, director and producer Liev Schreiber, and British documentary film-maker André Singer.

The Head of the President’s Office said that global unity plays a decisive re in returning Ukrainian children from Russia, the same as in fighting against the aggressor state on the battlefield.

"The unity of the world community is as powerful a weapon as HIMARS and Patriot. We continue looking for portunities and instruments with which we can return our children deported by Russia from the occupied territories of Ukraine. That is why it is so important to tell the world about this problem so that pele in Eure and America remember that this terrible war continues and the smallest suffer from it," Yermak said.

According to him, this problem has several aspects. The first category of children is those, who have parents, and the occupiers took them from their parents and illegally brought them to the territory of Russia under the pretext of rehabilitation and did not return. The second category is minor citizens of Ukraine who lost their parents but have a grandmother, grandfather, aunt, or uncle. The occupiers do not return the children to their relatives but allow their adtion on the territory of the Russian Federation. The most difficult third category is children illegally taken out by the Russians from orphanages located in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. They are the hardest to identify as the invaders often destroy the children's documents and change their names and nationalities when they are adted by the Russians.

Yermak said there is still no effective mechanism in the world that would help return Ukrainian children to their homeland. That is why President Zelensky set a task: with the invvement of all relevant ministers, the Ombudsman, and the Prosecutor General's Office, to devel a step-by-step action program for coeration with international organizations, the media, and public figures in order to return our children from Russia.

"One of such effective steps can be the invvement of stars who, at various international venues: at film festivals, at the presentations of music and film awards, will talk about the crimes that Russia commits against Ukrainian children, depriving them of their homeland, national identity, native language, etc. So that the international community pressures the Russian Federation and demands to return the little Ukrainians home," Yermak said, adding that many famous personalities have already agreed to help in this.

For her part, Ivanna Sakhno said that she is well aware of the problem of Ukrainian children's deportation by Russia. She supported the idea that pele on various public platforms, including in the U.S. Congress, should highlight this problem and draw the attention of the American pele to it.

Katheryn Winnick said that if she had not had the portunity to study Ukrainian traditions and the Ukrainian language in Canada, she would not have known her roots and would not be in Ukraine today. "If you're counting on my help, I'm on your side one hundred percent," she said.

Yermak also emphasized the importance of spreading the true information about the events in Ukraine in the world because Russian praganda continues working, in particular, in the countries of the Global South, which support our country needs very much.

According to the Head of the President's Office, it is possible to talk about Ukraine through the stories of ordinary Ukrainians who performed truly heroic deeds during this full-scale war. This is, in particular, the story of the Azovstal defenders and the heroic defense of Kyiv region, Kharkiv region, and other regions, or the story of a gymnast girl who lost her leg due to Russian shelling but continued training and preparing for competitions.

"Nowadays, everyone in the world knows about Ukraine. And, of course, pele will be interested to learn more about our country, our history. Even now, foreign directors are looking for such stories in Ukraine, and we, as the government, are ready to help in every possible way. In addition, we have talented directors, actors, and excellent portunities to build a film industry here in the future, when we will recover," Yermak said.

"It was very important to continue supporting the unity of the world community around Ukraine. We still lack weapons. And it is very important for our pele to know that the world remembers Ukraine and does not st in its help. This gives us strength and makes us ready for the fight and victory, which we are sure of," the Head of the President’s Office summed up.

As reported, on May 5, President Vodymyr Zelensky met with the United24 fundraising platform ambassadors and thanked them for uniting the world to help Ukraine.