Ukraine: Forcibly Deported Children

Chris Bloore Excerpts

Wednesday 21st May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Stuart. May I join all colleagues in thanking the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter)? She has led on the issue with determination and relentlessness, and she is an example to all of us.

The people of Ukraine are fighting for their country and their continued existence, but they are also fighting for us. There is no way Putin will stop in Ukraine if he gets what he wants. It is right that the UK is supporting Ukraine, and we should continue to do so until a just and lasting peace—on Ukraine’s terms—is found.

I was most recently in Kyiv three weeks ago as part of a delegation of Liberal MPs from across Europe. I was fortunate enough to meet Ukrainian MPs in the Rada and to meet the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights—the ombudsman—who is undertaking incredible work in documenting the extent of the various international crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine and in working with international partners to bring these children home.

One of the most moving moments of my recent visit came when we met two of the children who had experienced for themselves the brutal policy of forced deportation and assimilation. One had had to work relentlessly to have his younger brother returned, and the other had escaped Russian re-education by walking for days to get to safety. Their stories are not isolated tragedies; they are part of a wider state-sponsored strategy to destroy the nation of Ukraine.

Last year, the UK rightly helped to launch the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, which was designed to co-ordinate joint efforts. I commend this Government for their commitment to that, but it is clear that much more is needed. We must demand the full implementation of the 2024 recommendations to Russia from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. We must push for humanitarian and monitoring access to any facilities that are holding these children. We must facilitate communications with authorities to ensure safe returns.

The Ukrainian ombudsman himself told me that the international community needs a special tribunal to take full account of these crimes and to properly hold Putin and his flunkies to account. Each day that these children remain outside their homes and outside their homeland is a day that justice is denied. Our role is clear: we must help to bring them home. The stealing of thousands of Ukrainian children is a particularly heinous crime, but there are also millions more Ukrainian children who have lost their childhoods because of Putin’s actions.

On my recent visit, I also visited Chernihiv to see the extent of the damage caused by constant attacks. I saw for myself the basement in Yahidne where, in the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, dozens of nearby inhabitants, including babies and children, were rounded up by Russian soldiers and tortured for weeks before being liberated by the Ukrainian army.

We know that one of the weapons of war used by the Russian Government is mis and disinformation. In their programme of trying to dehumanise the Ukrainian people, they also try to paint them as not telling the truth. I saw for myself, and the look in the eyes of the people who told me of their experience will stay with me for a very, very long time.

[Chris Bloore (Redditch) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Lady for giving way, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) on her speech and on her incredible work across the country to try to make people aware of the awful things happening over in Europe.

I am very lucky to have a large Ukrainian population in Redditch. These are people who have fled from the Donbas and other areas over the past few years, including children who have had 20 homes in their few years on this planet. Now they are here, separated from their homeland and their friends and family members who have been forcibly removed and taken to Russia. The hon. Lady made a powerful point about disinformation. In Redditch, we see and hear every day the impact that it is having on those who may never see their family members again.

[Lisa Smart]

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for talking about the Ukrainian communities who are contributing so much in our country. I have asked the Government to give further clarity and more than an 18-month visa extension, to continue to show support for the Ukrainians living in all our constituencies. We know that far too many Ukrainians are being rejected from tenancies, jobs and studying opportunities because they do not have that length of visa ahead of them. The point about mis and disinformation is absolutely right. It is not a new tool, but it is being used in many more sophisticated ways. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we need to work across Government and internationally to combat it.

In closing, I repeat the calls that I and others have previously made for the Government to move from freezing to actively seizing Russian assets—both the principal and the interest—because we need to support Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction. The Government are taking the right approach in co-ordinating these efforts multilaterally, but the UK should be in a position to lead on this and, should progress stall, we must be willing to act unilaterally. These children must be returned, and Putin and his flunkies must pay for their crimes.