Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, the Polish EU affairs minister, told a Saturday press conference that the abduction of Ukrainian children from their families is a Russian crime, a great social problem and a tragedy.
Jakub Kaczmarczyk/PAP

Poland and the European Commission will announce shortly a major initiative aimed at reclaiming children abducted from Ukraine in the Russian invasion, Polish EU minister has said.

The United Nations have said there are credible accusations that since the war started Russian forces have sent thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia for adoption as part of a larger-scale forced relocation and deportation programme.

Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, the Polish EU affairs minister, told a Saturday press conference that the abduction of Ukrainian children from their families is a Russian crime, a great social problem and a tragedy.

“The whereabouts of many of these children is unknown. Estimates vary widely, but even the most restrained ones speak of at least six thousand cases of documented child theft,” he said.

Szynkowski vel Sęk told reporters that “At the beginning of next week, the European Commission and Poland will announce an important initiative concerning children abducted from Ukraine,” because the Western world must respond to this “dramatic problem.”

He said that the initiative will include the pursuit of effective evidence collection so that European countries and institutions can take the most advanced actions to help Ukraine recover their children as well as to ensure that those responsible for the crime are brought to justice.

Further details of the initiative will be revealed in coming days, Szynkowski vel Sęk added.