"I once again raise the suffering of the abducted, missing Ukrainian children," says EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a live press conference in the Angolan capital Luanda, where EU leaders are at a summit with the African Union.
"Every one of them must come home. I am pleased that this topic resonates with the heads of state and government," she says.
The statements come after extraordinary discussions about Ukraine, and the peace efforts that are being made after the US and Russia produced heavily criticized proposals without the participation of Ukraine and Europe.
The abducted children are believed to number up to 20,000. A large-scale effort to adopt them in Russia, or by other methods to ensure that they are raised as Russians, is legally classified as genocide. Russian President Vladimir Putin is internationally wanted for this war crime.
