PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Ukraine: Forcible Removal of Children - 20 November 2025 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs if she will make a statement on the future of the war in Ukraine and the forcible removal of children to Russia.

Russia’s assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack on a sovereign democratic state. For over three years, Ukrainians have defended their country with courage and a fierce determination to defend the shared values that we cherish.

President Putin continues to intensify missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities which continue to kill civilians, including children, and damage vital civilian infrastructure. President Putin is also taking children from their families. Almost 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia or to Russian temporarily controlled territory by Russian authorities. We are closely engaged with Ukraine and our international partners to ensure that Ukraine gets the support that it needs to defend itself and achieve a just and lasting peace.

President Putin has shown no readiness to engage in meaningful peace negotiations. At last week’s Foreign Ministers meeting, G7 partners were clear that international borders must not be changed by force. We will also continue to use the full might of our sanctions regime to bear down on the revenues that are funding Putin’s war and to ratchet up pressure to force him to engage in meaningful talks. To date, this Government have sanctioned over 900 individuals and entities, targeted Russia’s illicit shadow fleet and its two largest oil producers, and announced a ban on maritime liquefied natural gas, all to curb funding of Russia’s war chest.

Russia’s heinous policy to deport, indoctrinate and militarise Ukrainian children demonstrates the depths to which they will sink to eradicate Ukrainian identity and future.

The UK has committed more than £2.8 million to supporting Ukrainian efforts to facilitate the return and reintegration of children deported by Russia. Since the beginning of September, Ukraine’s pilot tracing mechanism, which the UK is co-funding, already identified more than 600 additional children who were deported to the Russian Federation or relocated in the temporarily occupied territories. The Foreign Secretary discussed this issue with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister during last week’s inaugural meeting of the UK-Ukraine strategic dialogue. We are working internationally in support of Ukraine and Canada, which co-chairs the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.

This House has been resolute in its support for Ukraine and its defence of its territories, sovereignty and freedom. Since 2022, the amount of support we have given to Ukraine has placed us at the forefront of those working with it to secure peace on its terms. As US military officials are in Ukraine today, we need to know what role the UK Government and the coalition of the willing are playing. What is the Government’s position on reports that the United States is brokering a deal with Russia that will involve Ukraine making territorial concessions, with Russia gaining territory, or being party to some form of lease arrangement, under which it effectively controls the east of Ukraine? Was the UK involved in drawing up those proposals? Reports suggest that under those proposals, the Ukrainian armed forces will be reduced and limited. What is the Government’s view on that? Are these reports accurate, or are there proposals on the table that align more closely with our view, and the Ukrainian view, that Russia should leave Ukraine?

Can the Minister give an update on the steps being taken to pressure Russia and its economy? We know of the sanctions and measures, and that they are being kept under review, but are proactive steps being taken to press countries to stop refining Russian oil? Turkey, India and China all have refineries, and are significant importers of Russian oil. When the Prime Minister met the Turkish President last month, did the Prime Minister raise this issue, and press him to stop? We have asked that question before, but we did not get a direct yes-or-no answer. Have British Ministers raised this issue with their Chinese counterparts in the Chinese Communist party when they have gone to Beijing to conduct shuttle diplomacy? Is there an update on securing the proceeds of the sale of Chelsea to support Ukraine?

Finally, today is World Children’s Day. Our thoughts are with the 20,000 Ukrainian children reported to have been abducted by Putin. We welcome the reports of the returns, and the rescue of 1,800 Ukrainian children, but what further steps is Britain taking to secure their return as soon as possible? Is that a priority in the talks that are taking place?

I thank the shadow Foreign Secretary for the tone of her questions. The whole House is united both in support of Ukraine, and in outrage at the iniquity of what the Russians are doing to Ukrainian children.

We are glad of our partnership with the Ukrainian Government on the new tracing mechanism. As I said, it has made some progress since September, having identified more than 600 children who should be returned to Ukraine, and we will use our full efforts to ensure that they are returned. The shadow Foreign Secretary asks about reports made in recent days. I am sure that she will have seen the statement this morning by the US Secretary of State, in which he indicated that a range of ideas were being discussed. The Foreign Secretary is in direct regular discussions with the US Secretary of State, and he made an important statement last week at the G7 on these questions. That statement reiterated that an immediate ceasefire is urgently needed.

We should be clear that President Zelensky is ready for an immediate ceasefire, and the UK supports him in that initiative; it is President Putin who is failing to come to the table. What should be the starting point of negotiations? It was clear in the G7 statement that the current line of contact should be the starting point, and we remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force. I know that principle is held strongly across the whole House.

Today, on World Children’s Day, we are reminded that safeguarding the next generation is not just a value that we hold dear, but the responsibility of every Member of this House. In recent days, more than 100 Members have backed President Zelensky’s Bring Kids Back initiative. They stand united with Ukraine and its stolen children, and I thank all those Members.

I also thank the Minister for working with me on supporting the Ukrainian Government’s launch of a new pilot programme to trace the children. Since September, it has found 600 of those children. If media reports from the last 24 hours about a US-brokered peace deal are to be believed, they should trouble every single one of us. A deal that trades away Ukrainian territory and security and makes no mention at all of the 20,000 children whom Russia has stolen from Ukraine is not peace; it is capitulation. This House should stand united in rejecting that deal. Can the Minister assure us that before any peace deal is considered, the future of Ukraine’s 20,000 stolen children will be top of the agenda?

The whole House recognises my hon. Friend’s work on this issue, both before she arrived in this place and since being elected. The atrocities that have been committed against Ukrainian families are at the top of our minds, and the removal of children is first among them. This issue remains a priority for the Government; I described the tracing mechanism, as has my hon. Friend, and we are pleased with the results since the pilot began in September. I can confirm that the Foreign Secretary discussed it with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister during his visit last week, and we will continue to work on these issues. It cannot become the norm in international relations to kidnap children and relocate them, which is what we have seen the Russians do. We oppose that, and it is why we will continue with our work on this.

I have already provided some response on the question of negotiations, but to state the very obvious, the Ukrainian flag flies from the Foreign Office. It flies from many churches in Lincolnshire, and from buildings across the constituencies represented in the Chamber this morning. The UK is steadfast in its support for Ukraine, and it will be for Ukraine to determine what negotiations it is prepared to enter into. That is what the Foreign Secretary was discussing with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, the US Secretary of State and a range of her other international partners last week.

Donald Trump’s latest proposals for securing peace in Ukraine might as well have been written in the Kremlin—indeed, they probably were. Those in Reform UK who have been paid to repeat Russian propaganda might disagree, but I believe that those in the House today will see the proposals for what they are. If Kyiv is pressed by Moscow and Washington into accepting these terms, which include the surrender of the Donbas and a halt to vital weapon supplies, it would be nothing less than a betrayal of our Ukrainian allies, so will the Minister publicly express the Government’s unequivocal rejection of those proposals, including the sacrifice of Ukrainian sovereign territory, and will the Government urgently convene a coalition of the willing, with a view to generating fresh support for Ukraine?

The abduction of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children by the Kremlin is the clearest and most grotesque evidence of Putin’s cruelty and desire to erase a whole nation. It will go down as one of the gravest crimes of the war. What further financial support are the Government offering to Bring Kids Back, and will the Minister back my Bill to seize Russian assets in the UK and make the proceeds available for helping Ukraine’s children, women and men?

I thank the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for his questions. I will not answer on Reform’s approach to these questions. Reform Members have not made themselves available this morning, unlike many others who have a deep commitment to, and interest in, these questions.

The hon. Gentleman asked me about the funding that we have committed to tracing Ukrainian children and reuniting them with their families. We have provided more than £2.8 million to support those efforts. He also asked about the latest reports on what a deal might look like. I draw his attention to the statements, which I read from earlier, made last week by the US, the UK and the G7, and to the US Secretary of State’s statement this morning.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) on her excellent work on the stolen Ukrainian children, whom we all want returned as soon as possible. Does the Minister agree that only greater resolve, unity and support from the west can drive back Russia’s outrageous demands for Ukrainian territory, and pave the way for a peace that represents Ukraine’s interests? What more can he do to encourage greater support for Ukraine among our allies?

There is resolve in Ukraine and among its allies, and there is significant unity. There have been a range of steps taken in recent weeks, including the sanctions that the shadow Foreign Secretary referred to, the steps announced over the weekend on Ukrainian children, and the strategic dialogue with Ukraine that the Foreign Secretary conducted in London last week. We will continue to press. There is an illusion, I fear, taking root in Moscow that one more push and yet further military operations will lead to a weakening of resolve in Ukraine, the UK and across the west. That is an illusion. We will remain steadfast in support of our Ukrainian friends.

I remind the Minister that I look forward to tabling a motion for a Backbench Business debate on Ukraine, which will refer to the 20,000 abducted children. I join him in congratulating the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) on the work she is doing on this subject. That motion will also draw attention to the other atrocities. Just this week, we welcomed two former Ukrainian prisoners of war, who had been held and tortured by the Russians, completely without regard to the Geneva conventions for prisoners of war, because the Russians fabricate this narrative that they are not at war in Ukraine and are conducting some special military operation. They do not have the regard for the norms of warfare that we would expect any civilised country to have. Can the Minister underline the point that the Trump proposals are unacceptable, and will he join all the NATO allies in making it clear to the United States that these proposals are unacceptable?

I will ensure that the Minister for Europe, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty), is aware of the hon. Gentleman’s proposals for further discussions in this House on these important questions. He is right to draw attention to the clearly preposterous Russian position that it is engaged in an operation, rather than a war. I am less well versed in military matters than the Minister for the Armed Forces, but this is clearly not an operation. We are some years in, and there have been thousands upon thousands of casualties—men, women and children —and a significant loss to Russian forces, even over the past month. The hon. Gentleman asks about our position on some of the media speculation. He will understand why I am reluctant to be drawn on that in great detail. I can point him to the clear statement from the G7 last week, and to the latest comments from the US Secretary of State this morning.

The stealing of 20,000 children like this is an outrage. I thank the Minister for his statement. Does he agree that the Bring Kids Back campaign is right to emphasise that the return of these children is non-negotiable in any future peace deal?

It is non-negotiable. You cannot steal children in 2025 and think that is an acceptable way to conduct war. The relevant international legal provisions are absolutely clear, and I know that this whole House, and indeed the whole country, is genuinely outraged by what the Russians have done.

By putting forward proposals that could have been drafted by the killer in the Kremlin himself, it seems that President Trump has finally given up on the Nobel peace prize, and is content to settle for the Lenin peace prize instead. Do the Government share my concern at the remarks, admittedly aspirational, by the US ambassador to NATO about his long-term hope that Germany will take over America’s role at the heart of the alliance? Does that not betray the decades of peace after the second world war that NATO was created to preserve?

I am not familiar with the Lenin peace prize; I will google it afterwards. I have been clear on the position and the basis of negotiations. Clearly, it is for Ukraine as a sovereign nation to determine the position that it takes in negotiations. I saw reports of the discussion. I think it was, to be fair, about who should perform the role of SACEUR—the Supreme Allied Commander Europe—rather than the future division of responsibility between forces in NATO. NATO remains a vital component of European security and perhaps the most signal commitment to Europe and America’s shared defence and shared values. Long may it continue.

Russia is enduring significant financial pressure as a result of its illegal war in Ukraine. Does the Minister share my view that we must impose maximum economic pressure on Russia in order to force Putin to the negotiating table?

I do. I feel great sadness for the Russian people, because the truth is that President Putin appears to be happy to endure their hardship at almost any cost. The Russians are suffering terribly, both on the battlefield and in their standards of living across Russia. The sensible thing for President Putin to do—the thing that he has refused to do—is enter into the ceasefire talks that President Zelensky, the UK and many of our allies have called for him to enter into. This is not complicated or difficult. We will continue to apply financial pressure on the Russians until he does so, and it is with great regret that some of the sanctions will put further pressure on the already suffering Russian people. That is what we must do, and it is what we will continue to do until those ceasefire talks begin.

The Minister is very well read, so I wonder whether he can identify any point in history when the appeasement of an aggressive, expansionist autocrat has ever worked out well. The population of these isles and the rest of Europe have endured high energy prices for the last three years, have taken Ukrainians into their homes, and have heard his Government and the previous Government unite the House by saying that, whatever it takes and however long it takes, we will get Ukraine’s sovereign territory back. Yet here we are, with the United States apparently in bilateral talks with Russia about how to carve up Ukraine. Does he have any positive message about the UK’s role in rejecting that? If he does not have a positive message for me today, what is the message from the UK to our allies in Norway, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Moldova, who know very well what appeasement of Russia looks like and feels like?

I thank the hon. Member for his kind words. This is my message for the people of eastern Europe and for the people of the UK: we remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force. Russia will not win. The Russians are not winning; they are suffering terribly in trying to pursue a so-called operation that is bringing them nothing but misery. I hope that they realise that swiftly, that they start ceasefire talks on the basis of the line of contact, and that Ukraine is in a position to secure its full and sovereign rights. That is what the British Government are committed to.

Russia’s kidnapping of children as a weapon in its illegal invasion of Ukraine is absolutely abhorrent and wicked, and I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) for her sterling efforts to make sure that these children are not forgotten in this place. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that children have been used as a weapon of war; we have seen it in Nigeria and other places in recent years. What more can this Government do to ensure that this is not normalised by dictators and despots across the world, and that children cannot be used as a weapon of war? What more can be done to ensure the return of Ukraine’s 20,000 stolen children?

My hon. Friend asks an incredibly important question. She is right to suggest that children are bearing the worst brunt of conflict. I was in Yemen this week, and I was appalled to see so many children with both moderate and severely acute malnutrition. That malnutrition is in very significant order created by the Houthis, who have restricted aid access into north Yemen and, indeed, detained UN aid workers and seized their offices. What the Russian forces do in Ukraine is seen elsewhere: it is seen by the Houthis and by militias in Nigeria. This country will stand up for an international rules-based order, which includes the protections that children are entitled to. We will continue to work to ensure the safe return of those 20,000 Ukrainian children. Six hundred of them have been identified by the mechanism that we co-fund and co-founded with the Ukrainians, and we will continue to work to ensure that all the remaining children are returned.

I welcome the courage of the American people over many decades in standing up for our liberties and defending our freedoms, and I draw attention to the fact that this wonderful act of generosity has supported a US economy that has grown more powerfully, more capably and in more directions than any other economy in human history, making the United States the richest and most powerful country the world has ever known. Would the Minister agree with me that that stance on the side of truth and justice has genuinely been a great blessing for all free peoples, and that we should be standing up against people traffickers and child traffickers—by, for example, calling out folk like Jeffrey Epstein—but that seeing the world’s largest child trafficker almost getting away with it would be a betrayal of the great American values that have led to the happiness and prosperity of one of the wonderful countries of this world?

I thank the right hon. and gallant Member for his question. The US and UK have stood together on questions of European order ever since the second world war, and I am incredibly proud that it was a Labour Foreign Secretary who led on the creation of NATO. I know that our American friends continue to see questions of European security and order as being of the utmost importance, and that security and order cannot co-exist in a world in which territory is seized by force and children are abducted in exactly the way he describes.

The stealing of Ukrainian children by Putin is scandalous and equally devastating for the Ukrainian families impacted. Putin shows no desire to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine, with continued bombardments on the Ukrainian people day in, day out. Does the Minister agree with me that, until Putin demonstrates that he is committed to returning these children and committed to a ceasefire, we must continue to provide Ukraine with all the military, economic and diplomatic support that it needs?

My hon. Friend puts it very well, and I do agree. We will continue to stand with Ukraine for all the reasons that hon. Members have expressed this morning. We will continue to do so until talks have started, and a just and sovereign future for Ukraine is secured.

In Wokingham there is a Ukrainian refugee community that has made a positive difference to the area. I have worked with local groups to help supply aid to civilians in Ukraine, and many have shared their concerns about the war and the safety of their relatives back home. I fully support the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) on her comments about the 20,000 Ukrainian children stolen by the Russians. What are the Government doing to reassure the many Ukrainians in my constituency that UK support for Ukraine will remain steadfast against the Russian invasion, that Putin will be held to account for his war crimes, and that Trump will not be allowed to backtrack on his support for Ukraine and NATO?

I pay tribute to the hon. Member and his constituents for their work to support Ukrainians. I know that hon. Members right across the House and their constituents have been engaged in supporting Ukrainians in many different ways. I myself have met the Ukrainian community in Lincoln, and there are many people in Lincoln who have taken in Ukrainians or provided support. I would like to assure all of those people that we will continue to stand with the Ukrainians on these questions.

The hon. Member asks an important question about how we can continue to identify those children who have been seized by the Russians. There is work ongoing, often using Russian databases themselves, which are relatively freely available, to identify where Ukrainian children are likely to have been taken in Russia. I imagine that the Russian authorities think people are not sufficiently interested to track individual children. I can assure the House that we are, that we will and that we will continue to follow this to the end. Alongside our Ukrainian friends, we have identified 600 individual Ukrainian children by name. We will not forget the names of those children, and we will not forget the locations of those children. The Russian families who have sought to take in those children should know that such an effort is ongoing, and that it is supported right across the Government, right across the House and right across the country. We will continue, day in and day out, to ensure that those children are returned.

Using children in this way is sick—there is no other word for it. The people of Newcastle-under-Lyme opened their homes, they spoke out, they spoke up and they stood with the people of Ukraine—and they still do. They raise money and deliver medical supplies, books and clothes. I thank them all for their efforts and commitment. We rightly support the people of Ukraine against Russia, but we also see Russia continuing to seek influence in other parts of the world through money, arms and the rest. This is a geopolitical challenge that we think we are getting right in one part of the world, but we cannot afford to ignore it in others. What are we doing to help ensure that we neutralise Russia’s attempt at command and control in other parts of the world?

I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. Russia exerts a malign influence not just in Ukraine; we have seen its relationship with the Houthis. We have seen its relationships in Syria. I am glad to see that they have declined in recent months, but it continues, through Africa Corps and a number of other arms of its state, to be a malign influence right across the world. Its efforts are always at the expense of the populations where they are found. We continue to work with our friends and allies across the world. I was discussing malign Russian influence in Yemen in recent days. I have discussed it in Libya. I have discussed it in Syria. We will continue to act across the world—as my hon. Friend would expect; I know he pays close attention—and we will not rest while Russia continues to exert such a malign influence on global affairs. We wish to have a friendship. We have long and historic relations with the Russian people. I know that nothing would give greater pleasure to so many in the UK than to have a more normal relationship with the Russian state than we currently do, but that will require significant changes from the Russian state, which continues to exert such a malign influence on global affairs.

One of the most important things the UK can do to support Ukraine is to push President Trump on a comprehensive G7 plan to seize the estimated £300 billion of Russian assets across those seven nations and funnel them to Ukraine. Please can the Minister confirm what steps the Government have taken to push President Trump to build international co-ordination on seizing Russian assets, including Sutton Place in my constituency?

We have worked across our allies and friends to ensure there is a robust and unified approach to these issues. I have described some of the statements we have made in recent days. I can confirm that the Foreign Secretary discussed the questions engaged in Ukraine at some length with the Secretary of State on the sidelines of the G7 last week. We will continue to do all we can and everything it takes to ensure we are putting the pressure on Russia that is required to ensure that this war comes to an end.

In September I had the privilege of meeting, in Kyiv, Raisa Kravchenko and Yulia Klepets of the All-Ukrainian NGO Coalition for People with Intellectual Disabilities. They told me of the devastating impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on disabled people. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is particularly distressing that when Russian forces have kidnapped Ukrainian children, they have targeted disabled children, and that when we can finally look to reconstruction and rebuilding Ukraine, specific support will be required for disabled people who have suffered so much as a result of Russia’s aggression and crimes—crimes for which Russia must be held accountable?

My hon. Friend is right. These are actions almost beyond comprehension. To be targeting disabled children in this way is a crime that will not be forgotten. He is absolutely right: it is always the most vulnerable who are worst affected by conflict, and that is particularly true of people who are disabled. It is something that we consider in our own aid efforts in Ukraine and, as he says, must of course be considered as part of reconstruction efforts.

I thank the Minister for his answers and for his strong focus on the Ukrainian children. I also thank the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) for all that she has done—we appreciate it. The trafficking to Russia and forced adoption of Ukrainian children is truly despicable. The re-education camps that are brainwashing children to forget—or to erase—their Ukrainian heritage are detestable, and the need for British involvement is undeniable. Will the Minister please outline what steps we will take to bring those children home to their families, instead of accepting that they are prisoners of war, which is disgusting, inhuman and contemptible?

The hon. Gentleman’s tone is absolutely right. I have described some of the tracing efforts that we are engaged in, but clearly, simply locating these children in Russia is not enough—they must also be returned. We will continue to work at every level; the Minister for Europe has met with civil society organisations involved in those efforts, as has Baroness Harman, our special envoy for women and girls, and the Foreign Secretary has discussed the children with her opposite numbers. We will continue to give this issue the focus that the hon. Gentleman rightly demands of us, and I assure the country that we will do so until the children are returned.

It would seem that the traditional role of the American President as someone who can straddle the world stage, working with friends and allies to achieve outcomes for good across the world, is in danger of being diminished to the role of someone who proffers capitulation on behalf of another sovereign nation. That is something that we cannot accept.

On the children who are the focus of this urgent question, I, too, pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter). As young people are returned—hopefully in increasing numbers—what work can we do as a country and a Government to ensure the reintegration of those young people into the society that Putin worked so hard to prevent them being part of?

We must work to see those children returned. We are an active member of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, and we work closely with the Ukrainian Government on these questions. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that one can hardly imagine the trauma, confusion and status of those children on their return to Ukraine. We will do what we can to support the Ukrainian Government in their efforts in that area.

All of us want to see peace in Ukraine, but it must be on the terms of the Ukrainian people—terms that they are fully behind. Russia cannot gain, or be seen to gain, from its illegal and unprovoked invasion. What assurances can the Minister give that the Government will stand fully behind Ukraine in ensuring that there is a peace agreement on Ukraine’s terms?

My hon. Friend has been a doughty champion for Ukraine’s interests in this House, and he is right. We are working with our friends and allies, particularly at the G7. I have described the statement that we agreed last week on the questions of ceasefire and negotiations, which, as my hon. Friend says, must happen on the basis of Ukraine’s sovereign interests. We will continue to work with G7 partners in condemning Russia’s actions—condemning its provision of arms to others as well as its actions in Ukraine—and increasing the economic costs to Russia, as we have set out in our most recent sanctions measures.