Ukraine is searching for about 20,000 children who were forcibly deported by Russia, but the real number may be much higher, since the Russian authorities refuse to provide information, Advisor to the Head of the President's Office and Operations Director of Bring Kids Back UA Daria Zarivna said.

"Ukraine is searching for about 20,000 children who were illegally deported and forcibly moved. However, the real number may be much higher. But we cannot find out. The Russian authorities systematically refuse to provide information. But so that you have an idea, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in Russia, Maria Lvova-Belova, boasted that more than 700,000 Ukrainian children have settled in Russia," Zarivna said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

She said Russia is destroying the identity of Ukrainian children, in particular, forbidding them to speak Ukrainian, to call themselves Ukrainians, and forcing them to sing the Russian anthem.

"Some of them were only ten years old when the occupiers came. And today Russia is forcibly mobilizing them. It is forcing them to fight against their own country. It is sending them to kill their own people," the adviser to the President's Office head said.

According to her, as a result of this brutal war, at least 16 children are killed or injured every week. In addition, they have faced torture, sexual violence, the destruction of family life, homes, schools and security. At the same time, Zarivna said the full scale of the tragedy is unknown, since hundreds of thousands of children remain in the territories controlled by Russia, inaccessible to Ukraine and international organizations.

In addition, children can be injured and lose limbs; according to UN agencies, there are about 2,000 such cases today.

"Another serious threat is sexual violence, including rape. Among the documented sexual crimes committed by Russian military personnel against minors, the youngest victim was only four years old," Zarivna said.

She also recalled that under the conditions of Russian occupation, victims do not have access to medical, psychological and legal assistance. "Unfortunately, we will be able to collect these facts only after the liberation of these territories," Zarivna said.

According to the Ministry of Education of Ukraine, almost 4,000 educational institutions have been damaged. In addition, Russian troops have damaged or completely destroyed more than 1,600 medical and health institutions. The adviser to the President's Office head said that the Montreal Conference in October adopted the Montreal Pledge – a set of commitments aimed at the return of all deported Ukrainians, especially children. Zarivna thanked Qatar, the Holy See and South Africa for their willingness to mediate, and called on countries that did not join to join the Montreal Pledge.

Ukraine also thanks Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Virginia Gamba de Potgieter, UNICEF, all other UN agencies, child protection organizations, as well as representatives of more than 30 diplomatic missions in Ukraine for creating a group of friends to support Ukraine.

"But more needs to be done. We expect that Russia will continue to be pressed to fulfill its obligations as a violator of children's rights. And once again, it is necessary to force Russia to fulfill its obligations under international law," Zarivna said.

Russia must be "forced to allow access to the occupied territories, stop deportations and forced citizenship, stop political indoctrination of children, provide information about displaced children," and cooperate in bringing them home, she said.