Russia most frequently blocks the return of Ukrainian children by altering their legal status, obstructing contact with their families, and preventing independent monitoring; furthermore, regarding the list of 339 children handed to Russia during negotiations in Istanbul on June 2, 2025, Russia provided limited information on only about 20% of them, stated Maksym Maksymov, head of the presidential initiative Bring Kids Back UA.
"Russia itself most often blocks the return. It changes the child's legal status, hinders contact with families, and does not allow independent monitoring. Documentation, guardianship issues, and security risks also slow down individual cases, but these are matters the Ukrainian side can largely resolve on its own," he said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
"A telling example is the list of 339 children that Ukraine handed to Russia during negotiations in Istanbul on June 2, 2025. These are children we have already identified. Russia provided limited information on only about 20% of them, and provided no information at all regarding more than 200 others, including children from Kherson Regional Children's Home," Maksymov noted.
As previously reported, on June 2, 2025, the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul handed the Russian side a list of nearly 400 abducted children.
