UK at UN Security Council: Russia using Ukrainian children as tool of war

The UK Minister of State for Europe, North America, and the Overseas Territories, Steven Doughty, has said that Russia is using Ukrainian children as a tool of war through forced deportations and constant attacks.

He made the remarks at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, according to Ukrinform's correspondent in New York.

Doughty said that last September, he met children who had been forcibly taken from occupied Ukrainian territory by Russian forces.

"They told me how they were separated from their families, with new identities imposed upon them," he said.

Doughty noted that he has a picture in his office, painted by a Ukrainian child who had escaped Russia, now undergoing therapy to deal with the ordeal they have endured.

"Russia is doing this to tens of thousands of children - using them as tools of war. And I have to ask the Russian representative, is there no shame? This must end," he said.

Ukrainian children have endured 4,000 hours of air raid alarms since the start of the full-scale invasion, he said. Constant air raid sirens and blackouts, fear and loss are causing serious harm to their mental health.

"A generation is being robbed of the security and peace that every child in this world deserves," Doughty said.

He stressed that the return of abducted children is a key element of a just peace. "Peace requires a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire; a settlement resulting in a sovereign, secure and independent Ukraine; all the stolen children and prisoners of war returned; and justice for the crimes committed," Doughty said.

He added that the UK supports efforts to bring Ukrainian children home and hold those responsible accountable.