Ukraine complements international sanctions mechanisms with its own sanctions – address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

23 November 2023 – 18:35

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

Today, there are several new sanctions decisions by our state – two packages of sanctions.

This is synchronization with partners regarding those individuals who directly work for or assist Russian aggression. It also means sanctions against the entities of the terrorist state related to critical infrastructure. Each name, each company name is a specific guilty party to the fact that Russian terror continues.

Ukraine complements international sanctions mechanisms with its own sanctions. And we are working to ensure that the sanctions of our partners are extended to those against whom Ukraine has already made appropriate decisions.

Today I signed decrees on more than 300 legal entities and almost 150 individuals of the terrorist state. And our special services, first of all the Security Service of Ukraine, as well as the Cabinet of Ministers and the National Security and Defense Council, will continue their work. There will be other sanctions decisions.

There were several important reports today. In particular, on eliminating the consequences of Russian strikes. In different regions. Thousands of people are working in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions in utilities, in the State Emergency Service, in medical services, as volunteers to help people and preserve our infrastructure – the essentials for a normal life. I am grateful to each and every person who provides medical care to Ukrainians, who works to extinguish fires after shelling. I thank everyone who restores electricity and water supply, who clears unexploded ordnance and demines the area. All of this is a special kind of courage and dedication, and I am grateful for it.

Today I would like to recognize the employees of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Nikopol. Russian troops are bombarding the city almost every day. And every day our people are there to save lives. Captain of the Civil Defense Service Mykola Tkach, Senior Lieutenant Bohdan Tarasiuk, Master Sergeants Oleksandr Bilokon and Oleksandr Zhur, and Sergeant Maksym Preyda. I thank you guys, all your colleagues, and everyone who helps. I would also like to recognize the rescuers who work in Odesa region. Master Sergeants Serhiy Herasymenko, Serhiy Tsymbalystyi, Vitaliy Labutin, Chief Master Sergeants of the Civil Defense Service Ihor Yatsenko and Oleh Shmidt. I thank you, all your colleagues, for efficiency and consistently courageous work.

Of course, I was in touch with the commanders. Maximum attention is paid to Donetsk directions. In particular, Avdiivka. Also Kharkiv region and Kupyansk direction. I am grateful to everyone who is resilient and holds our positions – every soldier, every sergeant, every commander. Today there was also a report from the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine – there are new results in countering enemy operations and collaborators. These are important results, and I am grateful for them. I thank everyone who cares about our country, everyone who fights and works for Ukraine and Ukrainians, everyone who adds their strength to the common strength of our country. The people that is fighting will definitely survive.

Glory to Ukraine!

The price:

Heartbreaking footage: a child sees off his dad to war. pic.twitter.com/hqLNO1EMC7

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) November 23, 2023

The cost:

A key political ally of Vladimir Putin has adopted a child seized from a Ukrainian children's home, according to documents uncovered by BBC's Panorama.https://t.co/vGSc8IUNgP

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) November 23, 2023

This isn’t just disgusting and shocking — it’s a war crime. Sergei Mironov and his wife adopted a child abducted from Ukraine. Margarita Prokopenko, a 10-month-old girl, was in orphanage in Kherson during Russian occupation. From there, she was illegally transported to Russia, where her name and citizenship were altered in secrecy. @BBCPanorama revealed she now bears the name Marina Mironova and is considered a Russian citizen.

From the BBC’s Panaroma:

A key political ally of Vladimir Putin has adopted a child seized from a Ukrainian children’s home, according to documents uncovered by BBC’s Panorama.

Sergey Mironov, the 70-year-old leader of a Russian political party, is named on the adoption record of a two-year-old girl who was taken in 2022 by a woman he is now married to.

Records show the girl’s identity was changed in Russia.

Mr Mironov has not responded to the investigation’s specific allegations.

But on Thursday morning he posted a general criticism on his Telegram account about false information attacks on him and his family.

The child, originally named Margarita, was one of 48 who went missing from Kherson Regional Children’s Home when Russian forces took control of the city.

They are among about 20,000 children who, according to the Ukrainian government, have been taken by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Earlier this year the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russian-controlled territory, with the intention of permanently removing them from their own country.

The Russian government says it does not deport Ukrainian children, but does evacuate them to give them protection from the war.

The BBC worked with Ukrainian human rights investigator Victoria Novikova to find out what happened to Margarita and the other children. Ms Novikova has prepared a dossier of new evidence for Ukraine’s prosecutor-general’s office, which will hand it to the ICC.

The mystery surrounding Margarita began when a woman in a lilac dress turned up at Kherson’s children’s hospital, where the 10-month-old was being treated for a bout of bronchitis in August 2022.

Margarita was the youngest resident of the local children’s home, which looked after children who had medical problems, or whose parents had lost custody of them or had died.

Margarita’s mother had given up custody shortly after her birth, and her father’s whereabouts were unknown.

Dr Nataliya Lyutikova, who led infant treatment at the hospital, said she was a smiley baby who loved cuddling people.

The woman in lilac introduced herself as “the head of children’s affairs from Moscow”, Dr Lyutikova recalls.

Kherson – now back under Ukrainian control – was then in its sixth month of Russian occupation.

Soon after the woman left, Dr Lyutikova says she received repeated phone calls from a Russian-appointed official, who had recently been put in charge of the children’s home. The official demanded that Margarita be sent back to the home immediately.

Within a week, Margarita was discharged from the hospital. The following morning, staff at the children’s home were asked to prepare her for a journey.

“We were afraid, everyone was afraid,” said Lyubov Sayko, a nurse at the home.

She described how Russian men – some in military-style camouflage trousers, one in black glasses and holding a briefcase – had arrived to collect the girl.

“It was like something out of a film,” she said.

But this was just the start.

Seven weeks later, Igor Kastyukevich, a Russian MP dressed in military fatigues, arrived at the home and, with other officials, began to organise the deportation of the remaining children, including Margarita’s half-brother Maxym.

“They took them from our hands and carried them out,” Ms Sayko said.

Video footage – posted on Telegram by Mr Kastyukevich – showed the children, bundled up in their outdoor clothing, being carried into buses and ambulances, and driven away.

“The children will be taken to safe conditions in Crimea,” Mr Kastyukevich said, as the children were loaded up. Crimea was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. Mr Kastyukevich portrayed the event as a humanitarian mission.

The midnight train

For five months, the BBC has been trying to trace Margarita and the other 47 children, working with Victoria Novikova.

Finding lost children in a place as vast as Russia, a country of more than 17 million sq km (6.6 million sq miles), is no easy task.

The first job was to identify the mysterious woman in lilac who visited Margarita in the hospital last August.

Victoria uncovered a Russian document which authorised Margarita’s transfer to a Moscow hospital for medical tests. A woman was named on the document: Inna Varlamova. A search on social media confirmed she was the mysterious woman in lilac.

We then showed a photo of Ms Varlamova to Dr Lyutikova and she identified her as the same woman who had visited Margarita on the children’s ward.

After further searches, we discovered that Ms Varlamova works in Russia’s parliament, though it is not clear in what capacity, and owns property in Podolsk, near Moscow.

We had solved part of the mystery. But questions remained.

“Margarita did not need a special examination,” said Dr Lyutikova, speaking of the night the child was taken.

“Why take a small child so far away?”

With Inna Varlamova’s name in hand Panorama then acquired train records from sources inside Russia. These showed that she arrived in occupied Ukraine on the same day that witnesses say Margarita was taken from the children’s home.

Later that night, at 12:20, Ms Varlamova took the train back to Moscow, with extra return tickets.

Margarita, the evidence suggests, was spirited out on this midnight train.

But why?

A Russian source then delivered another crucial piece of information: a document showing Ms Varlamova had recently married political party leader Sergey Mironov.

Mr Mironov, a former paratrooper, is the leader of Just Russia Party – part of Russia’s state-authorised opposition – and supports President Putin. He has been sanctioned by a number of Western countries, including the UK and the EU.

Then came a key revelation.

We accessed a birth record, created last December, for a 14-month-old girl named “Marina”. The child’s parents were named as Inna Varlamova and Sergey Mironov. The entry was irregular, showing no original record of the child’s birth.

“Marina’s” birthday was listed as 31 October 2021 – the same day Margarita was born.

“When I saw Marina’s birthday was the same as Margarita’s, I realised it was ‘bingo’,” said Victoria.

Through anonymous Russian sources, our team has now been given Margarita’s adoption record. Margarita Prokopenko has been renamed Marina Mironova, after her adoptive father Sergey Mironov. Her birthplace is listed as Podolsk.

The Russian government said it had no knowledge of Margarita’s case and could not comment.

Much, much more at the link if you can stomach it.

Kyiv to Izium:

The Food Train is designed to produced up to 10 thousand servings of food per day.

All the food from its first journey will be donated to police officers, doctors and rescuers ❤️‍🔥 pic.twitter.com/oa2ShgXt2c

— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) November 23, 2023

Avdiivka:

Stepove, Avdiivka north flank. Occupiers attempting to assault through an empty field to please Putin. M2 Bradley fires back.

Earlier footage, not 23 Nov.https://t.co/dmoHJdzoj4 pic.twitter.com/Uow5gY3Aut

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) November 23, 2023

Kherson Oblast:

Russian serviceman attempts to ram the Ukrainian Baba Yaga drone but fails. “F*ck yeah!”, he says at the end after his drone goes down. https://t.co/nsA8gbKF8U

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) November 23, 2023

Holland:

Far-right leader's election win in the Netherlands is potentially bad for Ukraine. Wilders has spoken fondly of Putin in the past and said he does not support sending military aid to Ukraine. The Dutch have provided or pledged billions to Ukraine, including F-16s, since Feb '22. https://t.co/Gu7qsuhrCJ

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) November 23, 2023

Belgorod, Russia:

On November 16, in Belgorod, Russia, The car of Oleksandr Slisarenko, the Russian appointed «deputy head of the administration of the Kharkiv region», was blown up. He died from injuries received as a result of the explosion.https://t.co/nZFhWeA7IL pic.twitter.com/lkxE4WRsZ6

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) November 23, 2023

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

A new video from Patron’s official TikTok:

@patron__dsns

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♬ оригінальний звук – Viber Україна

Here’s the machine translation of the caption:

I’m calling to tell you to dress warmly! Because it’s already a real winter outside 🥶 Keep warm! 👅 #песпатрон

Also, call your mothers!

Open thread.