11/06/2025 Children of Ukraine
A three-member delegation from PACE’s Parliamentary Network on the situation of the children of Ukraine carried out a fact-finding visit to Ukraine on 9-10 June 2025 where topics discussed included the situation of deported Ukrainian children, measures being taken to sanction those responsible and to rehabilitate those who have returned, as well as the wider challenges of providing healthcare and education to children in wartime.
In Kyiv, the delegation – made up of Paul Galles (Luxembourg, EPP/CD), Eerik-Niiles Kross (Estonia, ALDE) and Sigurður Helgi Pálmason (Iceland, NR), together with the Chair of the Network Olena Khomenko (Ukraine, ECPA) – met with the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, who expressed his deep gratitude for the Network’s important work in defending the rights of Ukrainian children. He emphasised the continued need for strong support for the Ukrainian delegation within the Parliamentary Assembly.
Exchanges of view took place with representatives of the Ministry of Justice, law enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Ministry of Social Policy.
The delegation also met with Mykola Kuleba, Chair of the NGO Save Ukraine, who introduced them to facilities providing rehabilitation for children and families who had returned from Russian deportation and those affected by sexual violence. The delegation also visited the Okhmatdyt National Children’s Hospital, damaged in a July 2024 Russian missile strike.
The parliamentarians also visited the Lyceum 157 school in Kyiv and had exchanges on the education of children during the war with the Minister of Education Oksen Lisovyy and the Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Education Serhii Babak.
The visit coincided with a new wave of Russian attacks on Kyiv, involving over 300 drones and missiles. The delegation witnessed firsthand the aftermath of the strikes, underscoring the urgency and gravity of their mission to support Ukraine’s most vulnerable citizens, its children.
The Network, created by PACE in June 2024 after an earlier resolution, supports the Ukrainian authorities and international organisations working with Ukrainian children, including their efforts to identify, return and rehabilitate deported children.
