Liev Schreiber delivered opening remarks at a session of the United Nations Security Council alongside three Ukrainian children–Ilya, Kira, and Sasha–who testified about their experience of being abducted by Russian forces. Schreiber said the children are three of the bravest people he has ever met. Read Liev’s full remarks here.

"Honorable delegates, distinguished guests, thank you for joining us today for this critical discussion on the situation of Ukraine’s children.

The war has had a profound impact on all of Ukraine's 7.5 million children, with nearly two-thirds of them being forced to flee their homes. Hundreds have been killed and thousands more injured. Only one-third of children of primary and secondary age enrolled in school in Ukraine are learning fully in-person.

Yet, in the face of all these injustices, trauma and human rights violations, there is perhaps no more basic and fundamental definition of human security than for a child not to be separated from their parents.

We are here today to raise awareness of and confront the horrific reality that thousands of Ukrainian children have literally been torn from their families and forcibly deported to the Russian Federation and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. Furthermore, Russian forces have also systematically abducted children from Ukrainian orphanages and deported them outside of Ukrainian-controlled areas and into the Russian Federation.

All necessary steps to foster the safe return of these children to Ukraine and to facilitate their reunification with their families or guardians, consistent with international law, must be immediately put into action.

Today, you will hear from Sasha (13), Ilya (11), and Kira (14), three of the bravest people that I have ever met. Their bravery perhaps only rivaled by their grandparents, who each took unimaginable risks to bring their grandchildren home.

Sasha, Ilya, and Kira are among the lucky few; only a few hundred captured children have returned home. Thousands of Ukrainian children remain held in Russia, where they are told that their families have forgotten them while being indoctrinated to support Russia's illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine.

We are looking to you, as diplomatic leaders for your respective countries and members of the United Nations, to use every means possible to support the safe return of these children. This body must play an active role in protecting the children of Ukraine from further abuse. That starts with helping to negotiate the safe return of these thousands of children and does not end until every one of these children is back with their loved ones.

I now have the pleasure of introducing Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kulebe, Mr. Foreign Minister, the floor is yours."

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