Children kidnapped by Russia will return home – Zelenskyy

Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia will return home, however, this process is complicated since the Russian side denies having deported those children, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

"We cannot remove the children by force because we cannot enter the territory of Russia. Any institution in the world cannot remove them by force because they do not have a mandate or access or Russia does not want to admit them. This is the answer about whether we can come and remove them. Not now," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.

However, Ukraine is able to pose pressure, the head of state said.

In particular, the president said that a conference entitled "United for Justice" will be held in Lviv at the beginning of March. It will bring together leaders and international organizations, particularly Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Khan.

"Secondly, our ombudsman is working and a coordination center is operating. It is a very difficult task. They [the occupiers] think that they did not kidnap anyone. They think that they gave shelter to children who 'escaped from the Nazi'. Of course, it will be solved. The children will come back. And there will be liability for this," Zelenskyy said.

He also noted that this issue has been actively discussed with the leaders. If public attention is attracted to the problem, this may help as well.

At the same time, the president stressed that it is necessary to win in the war in order to resolve the problem with returning children home.