Russia offered Ukraine to swap taken out Ukrainian children for Russian POWs – Zelenskyy

17:25, 16.06.2025 1 min read

Russia offered Ukraine to exchange illegally taken Ukrainian children for Russian prisoners of war (POWs), said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“This is madness, by the way, the Russians proposed: we give them soldiers, and they give us children. It’s just beyond understanding and beyond international law,” Zelenskyy said during a press conference in Vienna following a meeting with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen.

The head of the Ukrainian state noted the need for initiatives to return children abducted by Russia.