On July 17, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced 14 new sanctions in response to russia’s attempts to destroy Ukrainian national identity and the forced deportation of children from the occupied regions of Ukraine. This is stated on the official website of the British government.

And this is after his recent visit to Ukraine, when Mr. Secretary of State, together with the British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons, visited our Hope & Healing Center in Kyiv. Our British guests were very interested in the complex process of returning Ukrainian children organized by our Save Ukraine team. At that time, our team had just completed its eighth rescue mission and brought 10 children home. Therefore, the British Foreign Secretary had the opportunity to personally talk to the rescued children who had been illegally deported to russia and learn about the specifics of their recovery.

Mr. Cleverly wanted to draw the world’s attention to this problem so that international partners would make every effort to finally stop the abduction of Ukrainian children who still remain in the temporarily occupied territories or have been taken to russia, as well as to increase the rate of return of those already deported.

And today we have a worthy result: many russian officials involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children, erasing their national identity, and supporting russia’s destructive anti-Ukrainian policy have been sanctioned by the UK.

We are grateful to Mr. James Cleverly and Ms. Melinda Simmons for their visit and strong support of Ukraine on the issue of illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. We hope that our joint activities in this area will attract even more attention of the international community and we will be able to bring our children home.