UK sanctions perpetrators of forced deportation of Ukrainian children

The UK has sanctioned ten perpetrators of Russia's forcible deportation and attempted indoctrination of Ukrainian children.

The announcement comes on the 1000th day of the war.

According to the government press release, more than 19,500 Ukrainian children have been forcibly transferred or deported by the Russian authorities to Russia and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and around 6,000 Ukrainian children have been relocated to a network of re-education camps.

Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said: "No child should ever be used as a pawn in war, yet President Putin’s targeting of Ukrainian children shows the depths he will go to in his mission to erase Ukraine and its people from the map.

"As Ukraine reaches the grim milestone of 1000 days of bravely defending against Putin’s illegal invasion, the UK’s support is iron-clad. With our international partners, we stand with Ukraine to confront Russian aggression and fight for freedom, liberty and victory."

The sanctions target the All-Russian Young Army Military Patriotic Social Movement (Yunarmia), a Russian paramilitary organisation; Tetiana Zavalska, the Russian-appointed Head of Kherson Children’s Home, where 46 children were forcibly taken from the children’s home to Russia for adoption; and Vitaliy Aleksandrovich Suk, Director of the Oleshki Boarding School for Children with disabilities in Kherson.