Vladimir Putin with Russia’s “Commissioner for Children’s Rights” Maria Lvova-Belova, March 2022 — Both face arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court over the mass abduction of Ukrainian children

Monday’s Coverage: EU Foreign Ministers Gather With “New Feeling Of Momentum”

UPDATE 1005 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov have met the CEO of Palantir Technologies, Alex Karp, in Kyiv.

Zelensky posted:

UPDATE 0939 GMT:

At least four civilians have been murdered and 27 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses intercepted 192 of 216 drones fired by Russia, but 25 strikes were recorded across 10 locations.

President Volodymyr Zelensky noted Moscow’s return to deadly assaults on civilians after a three-day weekend ceasefire: “Russia itself chose to end the partial silence that had lasted for several days.”

Russia must end this war, and it is Russia that must take theRuss step toward a real, lasting ceasefire. Until that happens, sanctions against Moscow are necessary and must remain in place and be strengthened.

In the Donetsk region in the east, three people was killed and six injured.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region in the southeast, one person was killed and eight injured amid more than 20 Russian attacks on five areas. Railway infrastructure was struck, damaging locomotives and rolling stock.

Casualties were also reported in the Kherson region in the south.

UPDATE 0911 GMT:

Russia’s GDP contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2026, its first quarterly decline since early 2023.

The Economy Ministry lowered its forecast of growth in 2026 to 0.4% from 1.3% and in 2027 to 1.4% from 2.8%.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The European Union has imposed sanctions on 16 Russian or pro-Russian officials and seven centers who abducted tens of thousands of children from Ukraine.

The entities changes the identities of the children, putting them up for adoption. Centers indoctrinated the juveniles and, in some cases, trained them to serve in the armed forces. More than 130 people and “entities” are now under EU travel bans and asset freezes over the abductions.

Ukrainian officials have identified more than 20,000 children who were seized and taken to Russia or Russia-occupied territories.

The EU said the action target “those responsible for the systematic unlawful deportation, forced transfer, forced assimilation, including indoctrination and militarised education, of Ukrainian minors, as well as their unlawful adoption and removal to the Russian Federation and within temporarily occupied territories.”

At a summit of Foreign Ministers on Monday, EU officials said many of the children are stripped of their Ukrainian identity and culture, given Russian passports, and put up for adoption. Some are forced into schools for indoctrination or into military camps.

“Russia is trying to erase their identity,” Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže said. “When you look at the Genocide Convention, it’s one of the features of the genocide crime. So, it’s very serious.”

The EU and Canada hosted a meeting of the 47-country International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children to increase diplomatic pressure on Russia, and to support work to verify and trace those who are taken.

“War has really many faces, but stealing the children is really one of the most horrific,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said ahead of the gathering. “We should stop this, and Russia should pay.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said via a video call:

Almost every month, we see results. Children come home. But many more still need to come home. We must clearly document where the children are, track the full chain of abduction and the cover-up of this crime, bring the children back, and help them find themselves again and return to normal life.