The “Summit on Peace” and Children of Ukraine

What has happened over the weekend in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, proved beyond any doubt that the so-called “Summit on Peace in Ukraine” was not about peace – it was just another Orwellian-style propaganda exercise by the Western group of countries to drum up support for the Kiev regime. The West clearly needs a plausible “peaceful cover” to continue its policy of proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.

It is equally clear that the real global majority sees through these intentions and rejects aggressiveness and belligerence of the West. Even among those, who participated in the event, 13 countries (the Holy See, Armenia, Brazil, Bahrain, Columbia, India, Indonesia, Libya, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, and the UAE) refused to sign a joint communique. Moreover, some countries (Iraq, Jordan, and later Rwanda) withdrew their signatures from this document containing only Zelenskiy’s wish-list, which is totally detached from realities and any conceivable settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

What was dubious from the start has been turned to outright disgusting by the support the Taoiseach publically gave in Switzerland to the lies of the Kiev regime about Ukrainian children “abducted and tortured” by Russia. This hideous fake by the Zelenskiy’s propagandists has been exposed by the world media many times over, yet the Prime Minister of Ireland finds it appropriate to propagate it. Perhaps, it would help Mr. Harris to open his eyes if he paid a visit to the Alley of Angels, a memorial in Donetsk for children killed by Ukrainian authorities during the war they waged in 2014-2022 against the people of Eastern Ukraine, who rejected ultranationalist and neo-Nazi coup d'état in Kiev and claimed their independence.

There is little hope, though, for any enlightenment on the part of the Irish Government, which has been enthusiastically engaged in the deliberate effort by the West to malign Russia, this time by using – in Mr. Harris’s own words – children as a “weapon of war”.

For the benefit of the Irish public let’s recall some basic facts on the matter. From the very start of the Special Military operation in February of 2022 Russian authorities have been taking care of civilian population in the conflict zone, the large part of which sought shelter in Russia and got every accommodation they needed – almost 5 million of them, including 700 thousand children who came with their families. As part of the life-saving effort the orphanages of Donbass with around 2000 unaccompanied kids have also been evacuated to secure locations in Russia. They are treated with care, including an option in some cases of being voluntarily placed into temporary foster care in the willing Russian host families (just like here, in Ireland, Tusla is trying to do with several hundreds of unaccompanied minors from Ukraine). Currently, about 400 evacuated orphans chose to be hosted by Russian families. There have been constant efforts by the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova to repatriate kids who have families or relatives in Ukraine. In cooperation with various Russian and Ukrainian NGO’s she facilitated return of several hundred children to Ukraine whose relatives were identified there. This process has never stopped, although, it is clearly not an easy bureaucratic task, given the current state of affairs between Russia and Ukraine.

Against this background the Taoiseach’s irresponsible allegations on the issue of Ukrainian children are simply unacceptable.