Russia’s War in Ukraine

Understanding the conflict four years on.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Russia kidnapping tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, the potential end of the U.S.-Iran cease-fire, and Kenya seeking French investments during the Africa Forward Summit.

‘Destroying Ukrainian Identity’

The European Union imposed sanctions on Monday targeting 16 individuals accused of helping Russia kidnap tens of thousands of Ukrainian children and forcibly deport them to Russia or its occupied territories.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Russia kidnapping tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, the potential end of the U.S.-Iran cease-fire, and Kenya seeking French investments during the Africa Forward Summit.

‘Destroying Ukrainian Identity’

The European Union imposed sanctions on Monday targeting 16 individuals accused of helping Russia kidnap tens of thousands of Ukrainian children and forcibly deport them to Russia or its occupied territories.

“This is not collateral damage,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said. “This is a deliberate Russian policy aimed at destroying Ukrainian identity. Children are forced to forget who they are, where they come from, and even their language.”

Russia has abducted nearly 20,500 children from Ukraine since Moscow began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to the EU Council. Many of these minors have been forced to give up their cultures, change their identities, receive Russian passports, and be put up for adoption. Others have been sent to schools for indoctrination or to military camps, where they are trained to fight for Russia’s armed forces or for pro-Russian militias inside Ukraine.

“Russia is trying to erase their identity,” Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze said on Monday. “When you look at the Genocide Convention, it’s one of the features of the genocide crime.” Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group” can be defined as an act of genocide.

More than 130 people and entities are now under EU travel bans and asset freezes in connection to Russia’s systematic, large-scale kidnappings. That includes the 16 individuals sanctioned on Monday—among whom were heads of children’s camps, military officers, and government representatives—as well as new sanctions placed on seven........

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