Russia trying to erase Ukrainian identity, says UK's Cleverly

More than 19,000 Ukrainian children remain in re-education camps in annexed Crimea and Russia, British Foreign Secretary says

Teddy bears and toys are placed in front of the European Commission to represent the abduction of thousands of Ukrainian children by Russia. AP

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly accused Russia on Monday of trying to obliterate Ukrainian identity and using children as tools of warfare.

Addressing a ministerial-level UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, Mr Cleverly said more than 19,000 Ukrainian children remain in re-education camps in annexed Crimea and Russia. Their parents are “desperately” searching for them, he added.

A further two and a half million Ukrainian men and women have been deported to Russia.

“These are barbaric crimes. Russia is trying to erase Ukrainian identity and cultural history and they are using children as an instrument of war,” he said.

“But the world is watching and Russia will be held accountable.”

Expressing support for a continuing investigation by the International Criminal Court, Mr Cleverly vowed that no stone would be left unturned until the perpetrators are identified and brought to justice.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March over the issue.

Ahead of his speech in New York, Mr Cleverly announced 14 new sanctions designations in response to “Russia's attempts to destroy Ukrainian national identity”, 11 of which are linked to the forcible relocation of children.

Those sanctioned will be subject to asset freezes and travel bans.

Among those sanctioned include Russia's Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov and the commissioner for children's rights in the Moscow region Ksenia Mishonova.

Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova was also named for “using her position to support the Russian state's damaging anti-Ukrainian policies”.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalen Baerbock described the harrowing experiences of Ukrainian children who managed to return home.

She pointed to how they were forced to change their names and ages in a deliberate act to obliterate their identities and ensure their parents would never locate them again.

500 days of war in Ukraine - in pictures

As the war in Ukraine approaches the 500-day mark, 'The National' looks back at the conflict. All photos: AP

Ukrainian soldiers cover their ears to protect from Russian tank shelling in a shelter on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region in July

A cemetery in evening sunlight near Lviv in July

Flooded streets in Kherson in June after the walls of the Kakhovka dam collapsed

Tetiana with her pets, Tsatsa and Chunya, in her house that was flooded when the Kakhovka dam in Kherson was breached

Young cadets sing the national anthem during a graduation ceremony at a cadet lyceum in Kyiv in June

Bakhmut in April, the site of the heaviest battles in the Donetsk region

A message on a mirror reads 'Ukraine will prevail' in a badly damaged school in Kharkiv in February

Ukrainian servicemen in position close to the border with Belarus in February

Hospital staff in Kherson with orphaned children at the regional hospital maternity ward in November 2022

A sniper unit aims at Russian positions in the Kherson region during an operation in November 2022

Ukrainian artillerymen fire at Russian positions near Bakhmut in November 2022

A Ukrainian serviceman near Oskil village in October 2022

Funeral workers carry the coffin of an unidentified civilian who died in the Bucha community during the Russian occupation period in February-March 2022

Cadets practise with gas masks in a bomb shelter on the first day of school at a cadet lyceum in Kyiv, Ukraine, in September

A young girl with her dog waves goodbye to her grandparents from an evacuation train leaving Pokrovsk in August 2022

A child looks up at a building destroyed during attacks in Irpin in May 2022

An elderly patient boards a medical evacuation train in Pokrovsk in May 2022

Nila Zelinska holds a doll belonging to her granddaughter that she found in her destroyed house in Potashnya, on the outskirts of Kyiv, in May 2022

Residents shelter in the city subway of Kharkiv in May 2022

Destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, April 2022

A family fleeing the village of Ruska Lozova in April 2022 arrive in their shrapnel-riddled car at a screening point in Kharkiv

Smoke fills the air after shelling in Odesa in April

Yehor, 7, with a wooden toy rifle next to destroyed Russian military vehicles near Chernihiv in April 2022

Security Service of Ukraine servicemen enter a building during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv in April 2022

A Ukrainian soldier during a pick-up game of football in Irpin in April 2022

The partially abandoned town of Chernobyl in April 2022

Ruslan Mishanin, 36, bids farewell to his nine-year-old daughter as the train with his family leaves Odesa for Poland in April

Halyna Falko, 52, talks to reporters in March 2022 while looking at the destruction caused to her house near Brovary after a Russian attack

Anti-tank barricades on a street in preparation for a possible Russian offensive in Odesa in March 2022

A man recovering items from a burning shop after a Russian attack in Kharkiv in March 2022

Ukrainians under a destroyed bridge as they as they cross the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv in March 2022

“When an aggressor does not even stop at children, strategy turns into horrendous inhumanity,” she told council members.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expressed disappointment in the UN's top panel for its inability to take tangible steps following Russia's invasion.

“We strongly advocate for a vital element to be included in the future reform of the UN Security Council,” he said.

“This entails removing Russia as a permanent member and revoking their veto power, which they obtained unlawfully. The council and the global community will significantly improve once Russia is no longer a part of it.”

US President Joe Biden is expected to meet Pope Francis' peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, on Tuesday in Washington to discuss the plight of the deported children.

Pope Francis told reporters in May during his visit to Hungary that the Vatican would do “all that is humanly possible” to help bring Ukrainian children home.