India Abstains On UNGA Resolution Demanding Return Of Ukrainian Children From Russia

Last Updated:December 05, 2025, 00:00 IST

The 193-member UNGA adopted the draft resolution ‘Return of Ukrainian children’ Wednesday, with 91 votes in favour, 12 against and 57 abstentions.

UNGA (Image for representation: AFP)

India abstained from a UN General Assembly (UNGA) vote on a draft resolution demanding that Russia ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children allegedly forcibly transferred or deported since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.

The 193-member UNGA adopted the draft resolution ‘Return of Ukrainian children’ Wednesday, with 91 votes in favour, 12 against and 57 abstentions. India was among the nations that abstained in the UNGA on the resolution, along with Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, news agency PTI reported.

The resolution voiced deep concern over the plight of Ukrainian children separated from their families since 2014, particularly those moved into Russian-controlled territories or deported to Russia. It demanded that Moscow halt the forcible transfer, deportation, separation from families, change of personal status, and indoctrination of Ukrainian children, and ensure their unconditional return.

The resolution demanded that Russia “ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported” and urged Moscow to cease, without delay, any further practice of forcible transfer, deportation, separation from families and legal guardians, change of personal status, including through citizenship, adoption or placement in foster families, and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.

It stressed the need to investigate and ensure accountability for those responsible for forcible transfers and deportations of children, in accordance with international law.

Presenting the resolution, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa told the Assembly that 6,395 children had been identified as deported or forcibly transferred as of October 2025, with over 20,000 cases under investigation.

Russia rejected the accusations outright. Deputy Permanent Representative Maria Zabolotskaya called the resolution “stuffed with mendacious accusations”, arguing that it ignored the evacuation of children from combat zones and cases where minors had lost contact with relatives — situations she said could not be construed as violations. She contended that simplified citizenship procedures for Ukrainian minors were voluntary and beneficial for refugees.

“Each vote in favor,” Zabolotskaya said, “is a vote in support of lies, war, and confrontation, while each vote against is a vote for peace.”

Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative Maria Zabolotskaya, in her remarks in the UNGA, said that the draft resolution is stuffed with “mendacious accusations”, adding that it contains baseless allegations of Russia’s violations of international humanitarian law and does not mention that there may be children evacuated from the combat zone or children who lost ties with their relatives, which in no way can be regarded as violations.

UNGA President Annalena Baerbock said that since February 2022, when Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the General Assembly has reiterated its calls, across eight resolutions adopted during its Eleventh Emergency Special Session, for the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory.

“That is why the question of returning Ukrainian children cannot be viewed in a vacuum, for this issue would neither have arisen nor persisted without the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine,” she said.

Earlier this year, a resolution adopted by the General Assembly highlighted its concern that the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia has persisted for three years, and continues to have devastating and long-lasting consequences not only for Ukraine, but also for other regions and global stability, Baerbock added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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