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Last winter, a Ukrainian mother received the call she had been waiting for: her daughter, taken across the border to Russia months earlier, was finally coming home. When they embraced, the girl hugged tightly, afraid she might be pulled away again. She hardly spoke, afraid to use the Ukrainian language after being forced to speak only Russian.
That reunion was a miracle for this mother, but thousands and thousands of parents are still waiting. Just 1,600 abducted children have returned home.
In the three and a half years since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Russia has kidnapped an estimated 20,000 Ukrainian children. The real number is likely much higher, because Russia has targeted orphanages and vulnerable kids who may not be identified. It’s also difficult to trace everyone in the midst of war and occupation. Russia itself claims over 700,000 children have been so-called "evacuated."
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The more time that goes by, the harder it will be to find these kids. Their names and origins are being obscured. Their faces and voices change as they grow up, making them harder to identify. Some are so young they may entirely forget where they came from.
A new report from Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab makes clear just how systematic this program has become. Researchers have identified at least 210 facilities where Ukrainian children have been held across Russia and occupied Ukraine — from summer camps and sanatoriums to cadet schools, a monastery and even a military base. At more than 130 of these sites, children undergo forced "re-education" programs designed to erase their Ukrainian identity and instill loyalty to Russia. And at nearly 40 locations, children are subjected to military-style training, including grenade-throwing, weapons assembly and drone operation.
Disturbingly, this Yale report confirms that Putin’s government directly manages more than half of these facilities. Russia’s actions are right out of the KGB’s playbook, when the Soviets deported tens of thousands of women and children from the occupied Baltic countries in the 1940s and all native Crimean Tatars from the Crimean Peninsula.
Today, these abducted children are given new names, forced into Russian citizenship and adopted into Russian families without consent. They are told to forget their language, their culture and their parents. Those who make it home carry invisible scars: disrupted education, broken trust and a trauma that can last a lifetime.
We cannot accept a world where kids are being abducted during war and we cannot allow children to be used as a form of hostage-taking for negotiations. Protecting children in conflict isn’t optional. It’s our humanitarian obligation and it’s a legal requirement under international law.
Allowing these abductions to stand emboldens future aggressors, undermines international norms and betrays America’s most basic values.
That’s why we worked across the aisle to convene a bipartisan coalition of senators to introduce a resolution in May condemning Russia’s actions. Our measure also calls for the unconditional return of abducted Ukrainian children before any peace agreement is signed.
The resolution has earned endorsements from faith-based, child protection and human rights organizations, showing that Americans of all backgrounds understand these children’s basic rights.
Our work to support these kids shows how both parties can come together to speak in one clear voice. We believe this unity tells parents in Ukraine and all over the globe, that America stands with them when their children are in danger. After discussing the issue with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, President Donald Trump was right to say that "it is a subject at the top of all lists" and that we must work to solve it.
Alongside the resolution, we introduced the bipartisan Abducted Ukrainian Children Recovery and Accountability Act. This bill does three key things.
First, it enhances support for Ukraine’s efforts to investigate and track the abducted children.
Second, it helps those children who do make it back home and need psychological, social and educational support during that difficult transition.
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Third, it reinforces efforts to hold those who commit these crimes accountable, including through sanctions that are aligned with our allies. Ukraine’s prosecutors have opened tens of thousands of war crimes cases, and they need sustained support from us and our allies.
No peace can be just and no agreement credible until every child is safely returned. As First Lady Melania Trump wrote in her letter to Putin ahead of the Alaska Summit: "it is time" to end these children’s suffering.
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It’s unacceptable that these kids are being treated like prisoners of war — used for Putin’s propaganda and forced to do military training and join the ranks of Russia’s army. They must not become pawns used in any negotiations.
The mother who was reunited with her daughter was one of the lucky few. Tens of thousands of other parents are still waiting for that same call, for the day they can wrap their arms around their children again. Until then, the world must not look away.
Republican Chuck Grassley represents Iowa in the United States Senate.
Democrat Amy Klobuchar is the senior senator from Minnesota.
