Zelenskyy on talks: Russia admitted abducting Ukrainian children

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that the Russian delegation effectively admitted during the talks in Istanbul on 2 June that Moscow had abducted Ukrainian children, but refused to discuss the exact number.

Source: Zelenskyy's briefing on 2 June

Details: Zelenskyy said Ukraine had handed over a list of nearly 400 children to Russia and they had proposed to "work something out" regarding 10 of them.

He also confirmed that the Russians had said during the talks that Ukraine should not "put on a show for bleeding-heart European old ladies with no children of their own" regarding the return of the children.

Quote: "We told them that they had abducted 20,000 children. And they said they hadn’t. Maybe just a few hundred… That's a key point. Not the exact figure, but rather the fact that they admitted to taking children. The key point is that this fact is now documented."

Background: According to a journalist from The Economist, during talks in Istanbul, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, reacted with disdain to Ukraine's demand for the return of children deported to Russia, reportedly describing the handover of the list of children "a show" for childless "European old ladies".

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