In Kyiv, First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska met with UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Olena Zelenska thanked the United Kingdom for its participation in the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.
“We appreciate that the United Kingdom actively contributes to international efforts within the Bring Kids Back UA initiative by providing diplomatic, legal, humanitarian, and informational assistance, and also offers critically important support in locating abducted children and verifying data,” the First Lady said.
Olena Zelenska and Yvette Cooper met with Yuliia, the mother of two sons who endured imprisonment in the temporarily occupied territories. The woman was accused of alleged espionage and forced to sign a confession, otherwise she was threatened that her children would be sent to an orphanage. Yuliia was released only after two years of captivity – in October 2022, during a major exchange. Two months later, she was able to reunite with her children in Kyiv.
“On the anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion, which shattered the lives of so many Ukrainians, thousands of children and parents are still being held in Russia. This is an especially painful issue. Russians keep mothers and fathers in prisons while children are placed in orphanages. They have no information about each other and live in constant fear for the safety of their loved ones. Ukraine is doing everything possible to help these people: free them, reunite them, and return them to their homeland. We appreciate all the support from the United Kingdom and every international partner on the path to rescuing every family separated by Russia,” the President’s wife concluded.