This transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors.

Thank you to President Zelensky, and now I will deliver my own remarks.

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and I had the discussion with my son who is 14 year old.

So, I was telling that there are 20,000 children who have been taken from their homes and deported,

and he said to me, in my school there are 1000 children, so that means.

20 schools full of children, and that is a lot.

Having one's child forcibly taken is the worst nightmare of any parent,

yet it is the lived reality for thousands of Ukrainian families.

Russia claims to be carrying out humanitarian evacuations,

but no Russian system exists to repatriate Ukrainian children.

Once in Russian hands, in camps, military training facilities.

In occupied Ukraine or elsewhere in Russia, Ukrainian children are instead subjected to indoctrination,

their names are changed and their identities wiped.

It is Russian Government policy, approved by Putin himself,

to erase the identity of Ukraine by using Ukrainian children.

Let's not forget that in 2023 the International Criminal Court issued two arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Ivova Belova for the war crimes of unlawful deportation of children and the unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Our task, not only as politicians but as human beings, is to prevent this from happening,

to ensure every single Ukrainian child is returned home and has the support they need to recover.

You, the members of the coalition, can do this in multiple ways.

For example, you can support President Zelensky's Bring Kids Back initiative, which Andre will say more about,

endorse Ukraine's tracing mechanism, which is helping to locate the children.

Work to implement the UN resolution agreed in December which the European Union co-sponsored.

The aim is to increase the role of the UN in this process and make use of all the relevant bodies of the UN to locate and return Ukrainian children.

You can also fund initiatives that help with the reintegration.

And rehabilitation of returning children in Ukraine and also finance the work of Ukrainian judicial authorities in building criminal cases as well as civil society organizations that document deportations.

The European Union is working on all of these areas.

Since October last year alone we have given 5 million for psychosocial support centers for war affected children and families,

€2 million for the care of returned children and €1.75 million for.

Accountability efforts for crimes related to deportations and of course I will let Commissioner Kos add to this list in just a minute.

The return of Ukrainian children must also be included in any eventual peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Dear Excellencies, Russia can only run its horrific system of child deportation, indoctrination,

and illegal adoption thanks to the network of people and companies.

The European Union has already sanctioned 103 such individuals and entities,

but today I'm also happy to say that we extended the sanctions to 23 additional names.

These include Russian officials, people working in camps as directors at facilities where Ukrainian children are being held, organizations involved in the deportation,

forced transfer, indoctrination and militarized education of Ukrainian children,

and organizations hosting or training children from Russian occupied territories. For maximum effect.

Sanctions should be as widely applied as possible,

so I call on you all to step up work on additional sanctions.

We know who is responsible for these atrocities, and we have evidence, and we have to act on it.

Behind the scenes, diplomatic efforts continue across the world to raise awareness for Russia's actions, and it is important.

It is important that this coalition keeps on growing in size and prominence.

I want to welcome our newest members, Cyprus and Switzerland.

We should also use every opportunity to encourage more countries to join.

Dear Andri, the people of Ukraine have the weight of the world behind you,

and together we will work together to bring your children home. Thank you.