Latest news with #DariaZarivna
Times
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
‘We tried to free our children, Putin used them as poker chips'
Flanked by men in dark suits, Daria Zarivna was nervous. The stakes could hardly have been higher for her and the rest of the Ukrainian negotiating team as they sat down opposite their American counterparts. Their aim was to save an alliance, and, ultimately, the lives of their countrymen. While President Trump's shift from appearing to support President Putin to announcing additional weapons for Ukraine this week may seem abrupt, Zarivna can testify how the seeds were sown on a spring day in Jeddah four months ago. On March 11, days after President Zelensky was humiliated in an Oval Office shouting match with Trump, Zarivna, an adviser to Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian leader's chief of staff, joined the rest of the Kyiv delegation in Saudi Arabia. 'We were preparing hard, day and night. We were all focused. We had no idea how it would go,' she said. Somehow, the Ukrainians had to find common ground with a White House team that seemed to have started parroting Kremlin propaganda. There was one topic that Zarivna hoped it would be hard for them to disagree about — returning abducted children to their families. Nonetheless she was relieved when Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, started speaking: 'The conversation was constructive from the outset. When Secretary Rubio raised the issue, and when he shared facts from my message box, that was a great feeling, and I realised he was deeply across the details,' she recalled. The Kremlin has removed at least 19,546 Ukrainian children from their families for re-education as Russians according to Kyiv, a war crime that has prompted the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Putin. Of those taken, only 1,399 have been returned to Ukraine, through volunteers or relatives travelling vast distances, or in agreements brokered by third countries such as South Africa, Qatar or the Vatican.' The March US-Ukraine summit in Saudi Arabia concluded with a brief statement proposing an immediate 30-day ceasefire to Moscow. It also included a commitment to the 'return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children'. That commitment, the Ukrainian officials thought, could eventually become a test for Putin, and one way to prove to the Americans that Moscow had no interest in peace. • Ukraine hands Russia list of kidnapped children at peace talks During the Istanbul peace talks between the two warring sides last month, the Ukrainian delegation gave their Kremlin counterparts a list of 339 Ukrainian children being held in Russia, Zarivna said. 'It wasn't a full list. It was a test… a small first step,' she said. 'It was a way to see whether Russia is truly prepared to begin the process of returning Ukrainian children.' In public, Russia denied that any of the 339 children had been abducted. But privately, the Russian side 'suggested swapping [the children] like poker chips for Russian prisoners of war,' Zarivna idea of trading children was as abhorrent for the Americans as the Ukrainians, she said, and slowly the Trump administration began to understand the nature of Putin's regime. Following the failed talks in Istanbul, Zarivna visited Washington, taking the issue to Congress and persuading both the House and the Senate to introduce bipartisan resolutions calling for the unconditional return of Ukrainian children. 'Our position is clear: we will not trade children for territory, infrastructure or political concessions. Ever. To do so would only encourage more abductions,' Zarivna said. Zarivna insists she never meant to go into politics, but her clout has grown as Zelensky leans more on Yermak. The two men are accused by opposition figures of monopolising power under martial law at the expense of the country's democratic checks and balances, orchestrating the sacking, sanctioning and arrest of rivals. In a government dominated by the presidential office, Zarivna's influence now extends beyond the ear of Yermak to that of Olena Zelenska, the first lady, with whom she works closely on Bring Kids Back UA, a presidential initiative she runs with the aim of orchestrating the children's return. Over coffee in a Kyiv café, Zarivna batted back a playful suggestion made to The Times by Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's new prime minister, that it is Zarivna who is the most powerful woman in Ukraine. 'I'm not interested in power. I'm interested in creating and I'm interested in building,' the adviser said. 'As soon as you become a political player or political stakeholder, then you have all of these games which I don't want to spend my time on. I like to build a process, find the right people and go on to the next task. This is what drives me. ' Coming from a media and advertising background, Zarivna has been labelled the chief spin doctor, even a propagandist. She has been accused of running Vertikal, a Telegram channel that smears Zelensky's rivals, a charge she flatly denies. Yet it is clear Zarivna believes in the administration and its work. In November 2022, after the liberation of her home town, Kherson, she was filmed close to tears behind Zelensky as the Ukrainian flag was raised again in the city square. • No peace until you return our children, Ukraine tells Putin 'It was one of the best moments of my life. Like when you lost someone who mattered to you, then you managed to return them. I remember all these people came to this main area in Kherson, and they were all so happy and crying. Of course they didn't know then that the drone safari is coming,' she said, referring to Russian drone operators hunting civilians in the streets and posting the videos online, killing a year-old baby there last week. Neighbours 'just disappeared' during the occupation, she says, and Russian troops billeted themselves in her family home, burning mementos from her childhood for firewood. Her grandmother, who stayed behind, emerged from occupation traumatised. In the early days of the war, when Zelensky was pleading with parliaments around the world for support by invoking their own troubled times, Zarivna was involved in the team helping to write his speeches. The process is always driven by the president, she says, but the former comedian still needs an audience. 'He needs somebody to talk to because when he verbalises something, he generates all these great phrases and aphorisms,' she added. 'All the memorable quotes come from him. He's great at finding something in common with people, he's very empathetic.' Her immediate boss, Yermak, complements Zelensky because he prioritises progress over popularity, she said. 'Public image is always a challenge. It's the nature of that job. You can be effective and get things done, or you can be universally liked, but it's almost impossible to be both,' she said.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
11 more Ukrainian Children rescued from Russian-occupied territories, Yermak's advisor says
Eleven more Ukrainian children have been successfully returned from Russian-occupied territories as part of the national "Bring Kids Back UA" initiative, Daria Zarivna, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff and head of the project, said on May 28. Among those rescued is a young girl whose mother and brother, both defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, spent more than three years in Russian captivity. "All this time, the mother did not know whether she would ever see her children again. During the exchange, she met her son on the bus, and today she was finally able to hug her little girl," Zarivna said. Another boy was reunited with his father and brother, both Ukrainian soldiers. The father has been serving on the front lines, while the brother had also been held in Russian captivity for over three years. Zarivna also said a teenage boy who had been orphaned was rescued from Russian forces. The child had been kidnapped from his school, held in a basement, tortured, and nearly conscripted into the Russian army days before his 18th birthday. The operation is the latest in a series of rescue missions under Bring Kids Back UA, a national initiative launched by Zelensky to coordinate the return of children abducted during Russia's full-scale invasion. On May 22, Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak announced the return of nine other children from occupied areas. He described the children as survivors of grave abuse, including a girl whose life was endangered due to lack of medical care, and a boy who was imprisoned in a basement with his mother while Russian forces tortured his father nearby. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has identified over 19,500 children who were forcibly deported to Russia, Belarus, or Russian-occupied territories. To date, only around 1,300 have been returned to Ukrainian-controlled areas, according to official data. The abduction of Ukrainian children has drawn international condemnation. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of overseeing the forced deportations. Earlier this month, the European Parliament passed a resolution labeling Russia's actions a "genocidal strategy" aimed at erasing Ukrainian identity, and demanded the unconditional return of all abducted minors. On May 21, U.S. senators have introduced a resolution urging that no peace deal with Russia be made until all abducted Ukrainian children are returned. The resolution condemns Russia's forced deportation and Russification of Ukrainian minors as an attempt to erase Ukrainian identity. Kyiv has maintained that the safe return of its children remains a central precondition for any future peace negotiations with Russia. Read also: Because of Russia, my child understood fear early We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Four-year-old girl reunited with father after evacuation from Russian-occupied territory
Ukrainian human rights activists have assisted a four-year-old girl in evacuating from temporarily Russian-occupied territory and reuniting with her father. The child had been living in a city captured by Russia since the start of the full-scale war, where she remained with her grandmother despite her father's persistent but unsuccessful efforts to evacuate them. Source: Daria Zarivna, Chief Operating Officer of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative Quote: "Little Marichka was only one year old when the full-scale war began. She was with her grandmother in a city that came under Russian occupation during the first days of the invasion. Her childhood, which should have been the happiest time in her life, turned into a nightmare due to the lack of water and electricity, constant shelling and the threat of deportation by the occupation authorities." Details:The child's father, who was on territory controlled by Ukraine, had tried to arrange evacuation himself for a long time, but to no avail. "Eventually, he reached out to the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, which helped organise a safe route and accompanied the child until she was reunited with her father," Zarivna noted. As of March 2025, a total of 1,247 children have been brought back to Ukraine. At the same time, at least 1.6 million children are still living under Russian occupation. Background: Earlier, it was reported that a 16-year-old Ukrainian teenager had been abducted by Russian forces from Kherson and sent to a so-called "re-education camp". The boy openly resisted and at one point took down the Russian flag from a flagpole and replaced it with his underwear. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine brings back 7 children from occupied territories, Russia
Seven Ukrainian children have been returned home under the President of Ukraine's initiative, Bring Kids Back UA, according to Daria Zarivna, Director of the initiative and advisor to the Head of the Office of the President. The children had been residing in the Russian-occupied territories and Russia itself. Since February 2022, at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied areas and transferred to other Russian-controlled territories or to Russia, according to the Ukrainian national database, "Children of War." Among the returned children is a boy who, along with his parents, lived under occupation for an extended period, Zarivna wrote on March 3. "He endured forced passportization, psychological pressure at school, and a constant fear for his future," she added. "In an effort to provide him with the opportunity for an education in a free country, his parents decided to bring him to Ukrainian-controlled territory." Ukraine considers the abduction of these children a war crime and argues that these actions meet the U.N.'s legal definition of genocide. Russia, however, claims that the children are being relocated for their protection from conflict zones. Ukrainian authorities, including Children's Ombudswoman Daria Herasymchuk, estimate that up to 300,000 children have been unlawfully deported, while the figure put forth by Lubinets, the Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner, stands at 150,000. The Ukrainian government has managed to return 1,233 children so far, according to the Ministry of Reintegration. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children's Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, citing their involvement in the unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children. Russia dismissed the ICC's decision as "outrageous and unacceptable." Read also: Russia seized boats, harassed volunteers, concealed gravesites ― Kakhovka Dam explosion investigation We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
