Latest news with #MarianaBetsa
Al Arabiya
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Ukraine summons US diplomat, warns aid delays will embolden Russia
Ukraine called the acting US envoy to the foreign ministry on Wednesday and stressed the importance of continuing critical military aid to fight Russia's invasion, the ministry said, after Washington halted some deliveries of ammunition and missiles to Kyiv. In a statement, it said Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa expressed gratitude to Deputy Chief of Mission John Ginkel for US support, but warned that a cut-off in aid, particularly air-defense systems, would embolden Russia. 'The Ukrainian side emphasized that any delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine's defense capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue the war and terror, rather than seek peace,' it said.
Euronews
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Return of Ukrainian children forcefully deported to Russia is non-negotiable, Kyiv says
ADVERTISEMENT While most Europeans are travelling home to spend Easter break with their families, up to 20,000 Ukrainian children remain in Russia after being illegally deported from Ukraine, Ukraine's deputy foreign minister told Euronews. 'This is a time when people celebrate Easter with their loved ones in the family. And those kids are left without their families. Many of them do not even remember already their parents because Russia erases their identity,' Mariana Betsa said. "Ukrainian children are non-negotiable," and any peace talks and negotiations should include "unconditional return of each and every child back home to Ukraine," Betsa insisted. Ukraine has been able to verify Russia's deportation of 19,546 children to date. These are the children for whom detailed information has been collected — their place of residence in Ukraine and their territorial location in Russia are known. The actual figure is likely to be much higher. Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab placed the number of deported Ukrainian children closer to 35,000. Moscow claimed that the number could be as high as 700,000. The US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank (ISW) insists that the true number of deported children is near-impossible to verify, "but the implication remains the same — Russia has stolen tens, potentially hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children with the explicit intent of eradicating their Ukrainian identities and turning them into Russians." Moreover, the ISW stealing the children was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's priorities, referring to the revelations of Ukrainian human rights activists. They uncovered Kremlin documents dated 18 February 2022, which laid out plans to remove Ukrainian children from orphanages in occupied Luhansk and Donetsk regions and bring them to Russia under the guise of 'humanitarian evacuations'. These documents revealed that Russia planned to target vulnerable Ukrainian children, especially those without parental care, before the full-scale invasion had even begun. 'In the subsequent three years, Russia has embarked on a Kremlin-directed, deeply institutionalised project to abduct Ukrainian children and forcibly turn them into the next generation of Russians.' Betsa says 1.6 million Ukrainian children still remain in the temporarily occupied territories at this time. What is happening to the deported Ukrainian children now? Russia is deliberately erasing the identity of the illegally deported children, according to Ukraine's deputy foreign minister. Betsa told Euronews that it is challenging to trace and identify these children because their names and IDs are being changed, especially when it comes to younger kids, who have been forced into adoption in Russia. With the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the first intentional deportation of Ukrainian children, Putin signed a decree for a simplified procedure for the acquisition of Russian citizenship for Ukrainian 'children left without parental care and incapacitated persons'. ADVERTISEMENT This amounts to a legalisation of the process of deporting Ukrainian children and forcibly granting them Russian citizenship. Russia uses the children as "an instrument of its aggressive policy towards Ukraine," Betsa says.'What Russia does is it weaponises the Ukrainian children,' she added. Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab has confirmed that Russia is using at least 43 children's camps throughout the country to house deported children, at least 32 of which are explicitly 're-education' facilities. Russia uses these camps to indoctrinate Ukrainian children, "punishing them for their Ukrainian identities and forcibly instilling pro-Russian sentiment through carefully curated Kremlin-approved curricula and 'military-patriotic' training courses." ADVERTISEMENT Bringing the deported children back, Kyiv's 'red line' for any deal Ukraine's deputy foreign minister reiterated in the interview with Euronews that there is no just peace without the return of the prisoners of war, illegally detained persons and without the return of each and every child. 'These are red lines for Ukraine. Every child should be unconditionally returned back home to Ukraine," Betsa said. Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenakyy announced the matter was "a major priority for Kyiv in recent ceasefire negotiations with the United States in Saudi Arabia." In a statement issued following talks with Ukraine, the US said it remains "committed" to returning forcibly kidnapped Ukrainian children, as well as exchanging prisoners of war and releasing civilian detainees. ADVERTISEMENT However, the Trump administration cut funding for Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab, which had investigated and detailed the mass deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. Under the 2022 contract with the lab, the US government was responsible for its database. When the government cut off its support, the lab's team members lost access to the irreplaceable data they had collected, including the evidence of Russia's war crimes. The lab shared some of this evidence with European authorities and the International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued arrest warrants for Putin and his Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for forcibly deporting Ukrainian children. Responding to pressure from Congress members, the Trump administration later restored the Lab's funding for about six weeks to ensure the proper transfer of the critical data on the children to the appropriate authorities. ADVERTISEMENT Related Detained, deported and brainwashed: How Moscow 'Russifies' Ukrainian children War on children: How Russia is stealing generations of Ukrainians Betsa insists that Ukraine raises the issue of forcefully deported at each and every negotiation, "bilateral, multilateral, within international organisations, UN, Council of Europe, everywhere, also including in our bilateral talks with the US." 'These are red lines for Ukraine. Every child should be unconditionally returned back home to Ukraine.'
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Return of Ukrainian children forcefully deported to Russia is non-negotiable, Kyiv says
While most Europeans are travelling home to spend Easter break with their families, up to 20,000 Ukrainian children remain in Russia after being illegally deported from Ukraine, Ukraine's deputy foreign minister told Euronews. 'This is a time when people celebrate Easter with their loved ones in the family. And those kids are left without their families. Many of them do not even remember already their parents because Russia erases their identity,' Mariana Betsa said. "Ukrainian children are non-negotiable," and any peace talks and negotiations should include "unconditional return of each and every child back home to Ukraine," Betsa insisted. Ukraine has been able to verify Russia's deportation of 19,546 children to date. These are the children for whom detailed information has been collected — their place of residence in Ukraine and their territorial location in Russia are known. The actual figure is likely to be much higher. Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab placed the number of deported Ukrainian children closer to 35,000. Moscow claimed that the number could be as high as 700,000. The US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank (ISW) insists that the true number of deported children is near-impossible to verify, "but the implication remains the same — Russia has stolen tens, potentially hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children with the explicit intent of eradicating their Ukrainian identities and turning them into Russians." Moreover, the ISW stealing the children was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's priorities, referring to the revelations of Ukrainian human rights activists. They uncovered Kremlin documents dated 18 February 2022, which laid out plans to remove Ukrainian children from orphanages in occupied Luhansk and Donetsk regions and bring them to Russia under the guise of 'humanitarian evacuations'. These documents revealed that Russia planned to target vulnerable Ukrainian children, especially those without parental care, before the full-scale invasion had even begun. 'In the subsequent three years, Russia has embarked on a Kremlin-directed, deeply institutionalised project to abduct Ukrainian children and forcibly turn them into the next generation of Russians.' Betsa says 1.6 million Ukrainian children still remain in the temporarily occupied territories at this time. Russia is deliberately erasing the identity of the illegally deported children, according to Ukraine's deputy foreign minister. Betsa told Euronews that it is challenging to trace and identify these children because their names and IDs are being changed, especially when it comes to younger kids, who have been forced into adoption in Russia. With the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the first intentional deportation of Ukrainian children, Putin signed a decree for a simplified procedure for the acquisition of Russian citizenship for Ukrainian 'children left without parental care and incapacitated persons'. This amounts to a legalisation of the process of deporting Ukrainian children and forcibly granting them Russian citizenship. Russia uses the children as "an instrument of its aggressive policy towards Ukraine," Betsa says.'What Russia does is it weaponises the Ukrainian children,' she added. Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab has confirmed that Russia is using at least 43 children's camps throughout the country to house deported children, at least 32 of which are explicitly 're-education' facilities. Russia uses these camps to indoctrinate Ukrainian children, "punishing them for their Ukrainian identities and forcibly instilling pro-Russian sentiment through carefully curated Kremlin-approved curricula and 'military-patriotic' training courses." Ukraine's deputy foreign minister reiterated in the interview with Euronews that there is no just peace without the return of the prisoners of war, illegally detained persons and without the return of each and every child. 'These are red lines for Ukraine. Every child should be unconditionally returned back home to Ukraine," Betsa said. Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenakyy announced the matter was "a major priority for Kyiv in recent ceasefire negotiations with the United States in Saudi Arabia." In a statement issued following talks with Ukraine, the US said it remains "committed" to returning forcibly kidnapped Ukrainian children, as well as exchanging prisoners of war and releasing civilian detainees. However, the Trump administration cut funding for Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab, which had investigated and detailed the mass deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. Under the 2022 contract with the lab, the US government was responsible for its database. When the government cut off its support, the lab's team members lost access to the irreplaceable data they had collected, including the evidence of Russia's war crimes. The lab shared some of this evidence with European authorities and the International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued arrest warrants for Putin and his Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for forcibly deporting Ukrainian children. Responding to pressure from Congress members, the Trump administration later restored the Lab's funding for about six weeks to ensure the proper transfer of the critical data on the children to the appropriate authorities. Related Detained, deported and brainwashed: How Moscow 'Russifies' Ukrainian children War on children: How Russia is stealing generations of Ukrainians Betsa insists that Ukraine raises the issue of forcefully deported at each and every negotiation, "bilateral, multilateral, within international organisations, UN, Council of Europe, everywhere, also including in our bilateral talks with the US." 'These are red lines for Ukraine. Every child should be unconditionally returned back home to Ukraine.'
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia should not be trusted, continues genocide, Ukrainian official says
Russia cannot be trusted and must be held accountable for its war crimes and ongoing genocide, Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa said in a wide-ranging interview with The Sun, published on March 29. "Aggressor(s) should not be appeased, aggression should not be rewarded... we can not live in a world where impunity prevails over the rule of law," Betsa . "Russia has committed genocide, and Russia continues to commit genocide on an industrial scale, every day, every single minute," Betsa said. The U.S. has held separate meetings with Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia to kickstart peace negotiations. A ceasefire and returning Ukrainian children are among the key topics on the table. Betsa decried Russia for conducting mass in Ukraine, adding that deportations began in 2014 in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. "Now with the full-scale invasion, Russia deports Ukrainian children, it abducts Ukrainian children... it erases their identity," Betsa said, adding that Russian authorities change the names of Ukrainian children, issue Russian passports, and actively try to Russify them. "There should be a robust response by the international community," Betsa said, adding that Russia's deportation of is still ongoing. Since February 2022, at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied areas and transferred to other Russian-controlled territories or Russia, according to the Ukrainian national database "." The Ukrainian government has returned 1,247 children so far, according to the Ministry of Reintegration. "We have so many children to whom Russia also uses sexual violence, and there are cases which are registered like that," Betsa said. "We can not trust Russia, lies and they know how to lie, so no one should be fooled by Russia." "No one should believe Russia's words, Russia's statements to the media," Betsa said when asked if a ceasefire deal would be brokered. Russia's commitment to should be observed by its actions, Betsa said, adding that Ukraine has agreed to a full ceasefire, but Russia has not. "Ukraine will never accept territorial compromises, unjust peace. It will never accept (a) situation where our , illegally detained persons, and children are not returned. They should return all of them, and children should be returned unconditionally," Betsa said. Read also: 'You can't trust Russians' — Europe's Ukraine peacekeeping plans face one obvious hurdle We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The Independent
26-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin makes demands for Black Sea ceasefire despite launching huge drone assault
The Kremlin has claimed a Black Sea ceasefire agreement can only begin when certain Russian needs are met, sparking Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky to accuse Russia of 'manipulation' over a push by Donald Trump for a lasting peace deal in end Vladimir Putin's invasion. After days of intense negotiations, the White House said it had secured deals with both Kyiv and Moscow to stop targeting ships in the Black Sea, restoring a previous agreement to protect key shipping routes. But on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would need to see some sanctions imposed by Western nations over the war lifted first, including blocks on its access to international payments systems. Mr Zelensky said the ceasefire would be observed immediately, and said Russia was 'already trying to distort agreements' and 'deceive both our intermediaries and the entire world'. Mr Trump has said Putin appears to be "dragging [his] feet" over ending the war against Ukraine. 'Very difficult' to find the thousands of Ukrainian children taken to Russia Without access to the thousands of children abducted by Russia or their data, Ukraine's deputy foreign minister said it was 'very difficult' to find them and bring them home. 'Russia uses forced Russian documentation. Russia changes their names, Russia changes their data, and it's very difficult to find them,' Mariana Betsa told a UK committee. 'The critical issue is to get verified information from [Russia] regarding the deported children from Russia. We don't have any access to them at the government level. 'So basically, this is a very complicated and complex operation, and each child is truly a unique operation in terms of their rescue.' Ms Betsa said a few countries were acting as mediators to help return children, but the process was not going as fast as Ukraine would like. As part of the negotiations in Saudi Arabia this week, the US agreed to help Ukraine get its children back, and Ms Betsa said it would also be great to get more help from the UK. Rachel Clun26 March 2025 11:29 More than a dozen Ukrainian children injured or killed each week, minister says More than a dozen Ukrainian children are injured or killed in Russian missile strikes each week, Ukraine's deputy foreign minister says. Mariana Betsa said nearly 600 children have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, and more than 1700 have been injured in attacks. 'All in all, every week, at least 16 Ukrainian children either being killed or being injured by missile attacks,' she told a UK committee. Rachel Clun26 March 2025 11:15 Kidnapped Ukrainian children drafted into military, officials say The founder of Save Ukraine Mykola Kuleba said many of the children Ukraine has been able to rescue have spoken about being drafted or seeing their friends drafted into the Russian army. 'Of that more than 600 kids who [have] been stolen and rescued, together with our partners ... 40 per cent of all boys rescued over the past year, received draft notice for the Russian army, or had friends who did,' he told a UK parliamentary committee. '25 per cent of all rescued children or their classmates were forced to march and handle weapons and shoot. Every fifth rescued child had a gun pointed at them.' Mr Kuleba said 70 per cent of the children were made to listen to Russian military personnel or security service members at school, who urged the children to sign contracts with the Russian military. Rachel Clun26 March 2025 11:01 Almost 20,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia: Ukraine Minister Ukraine's deputy foreign minister Mariana Betsa says nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russia during the war. 'So far, we identified almost 20,000 Ukrainian children who were forcefully deported by Russia in grave breach of international law to the Russian territory,' she told a UK parliamentary committee. 'This is a massive crime that Russia commits.' Rachel Clun26 March 2025 10:45 Ukrainian minister to address UK committee Ukraine's deputy foreign minister Mariana Betsa will shortly address a UK parliamentary committee. Ms Betsa will be appearing before the International Relations and Defence Committee, alongside the founder of Save Ukraine Mykola Kuleba, and Daria Zarivna, the advisor to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine and operations director of Bring Kids Back UA. Rachel Clun26 March 2025 10:29 Kremlin says Putin order halting energy attacks still holds The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin's order to halt strikes on energy infrastructure is being adhered to by Russian forces. Kremlin spokesman Dmirty Peskov said on Wednesday that the moratorium on attacking energy infrastructure has been in force since March 18 and was being fulfilled by Russia. Moscow said yesterday that oil refineries, energy pipelines and nuclear power stations would not be targeted for 30 days in a deal struck with Ukraine. Overnight Russia carried out drone attacks on Ukraine, and Volodymyr Zelensky said civilian infrastructure was hit. Rachel Clun26 March 2025 10:16 Images show aftermath of Russian drone attacks Volodymyr Zelensky shared photos of the aftermath of Russia's drone strikes on Ukraine overnight, which came after the countries reached an agreement to halt attacks in the Black Sea. Rachel Clun26 March 2025 10:01 What is the Black Sea ceasefire deal? Following days of intense talks with the US, both Russia and Ukraine have agreed to stop attacks in the Black Sea. They also agreed to take steps towards agreeing to a ceasefire on energy infrastructure. Here is what the White House said both countries agreed to, in separate talks with the US in Saudi Arabia earlier this week: Cease using force and allow the safe naviagation of ships in the Black Sea. Develop measures for implementing the agreement to ban strikes on energy facilities. Work with mediating countries ton implement the agreements. Work towards a lasting peace. Rachel Clun26 March 2025 09:46 Zelensky says Russian attacks a sign Russia doesn't want 'real peace' Volodymyr Zelensky says the overnight attacks from Russia were a 'clear signal' that Russia did not want a real peace. 'Launching such large-scale attacks after ceasefire negotiations is a clear signal to the whole world that Moscow is not going to pursue real peace,' the Ukrainian president wrote on X. 'Since March 11, there has been a US proposal for a total ceasefire, a complete halt to strikes. And literally every night, through its attacks, Russia keeps saying 'no' to our partners' peace proposal. He added: 'Everyone who was affected must be given assistance. But there must also be clear pressure and strong action from the world on Russia – more pressure, more sanctions from the United States – to stop Russian strikes. ' Rachel Clun26 March 2025 09:31 Zelensky says overnight drone attacks are proof Russia wants to drag out war The Ukrainian president says Russia's overnight drone attacks were proof that Russia wanted the war to drag on. Russia launched 117 drone attacks through the night, and the key Ukrainian Black Sea port city of f Mykolaiv was struck. Volodymyr Zelensky said many regions came under attack from Russia, despite the countries reaching an agreement to end attacks in the Black Sea and start working towards a ceasefire. 'Last night, there were another 117 proofs in our skies of how Russia continues to drag out this war – 117 strike drones, most of them Shaheds. A significant number were shot down by our air defenders,' he said on X. 'Dnipro, Sumy, Cherkasy, and other regions came under Russian attack. There was a massive drone strike on Kryvyi Rih – targeting a local enterprise and civilian infrastructure. In Okhtyrka, Sumy region, homes, stores, and civilian infrastructure were damaged. Communities in Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia regions also came under fire.' Rachel Clun26 March 2025 09:17
