Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In order to ensure that Ukraine and the Ukrainian people will live in peace, we need to win this war, and winning this war means defeat to Russia. This is not only for Ukraine and Ukrainians. Once again, this is in order to restore international law and order. You can see that when war is aggressive, when war is ongoing, we are facing new hot spots on the global map, and we're afraid that we all will see more if Ukraine does not defeat Russia as soon as possible.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Torture is, once again, systematic. We are investigating thousands of cases of torture, even in the Kherson region, which we liberated. With all of the evidence, we have identified at least 11 torture chambers, which are places of illegal detention where all possible ways of torture were used against Ukrainian civilians.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think that this war of aggression has showed all the world that the system of international humanitarian law, of international law and order, needs to be improved in order to prevent the commission of such crimes in Ukraine, in Europe and in other parts of the world in the 21st century.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much for this question. You have really raised a sensitive issue. Our policy at the government level is to ensure support to all victims and survivors of this war. A large number of the victims and survivors of this war are definitely the relatives and the parents of the kids who are kidnapped.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I will give you an example. For instance, when we liberated the Kharkiv region, we started to interact with families whose children were transferred to Russia. They were pressed by occupation authorities to sign something, like a power of attorney, with a blank for the person who would be somehow accompanying their children.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  This is a pattern used by Russia to destroy Ukraine as a nation, because kidnapping our children on such a massive scale is an attempt to steal our future, the future of our nation. The first arrest warrant, as we mentioned already, is for Putin, who is at the top of this systematic practice, with explicit evidence that this is a part of Russian genocidal policies against Ukraine and Ukrainians.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  This is extremely important information in order to make it possible to prosecute and punish everyone who is involved in the commission of this crime and, second, to have information on where our children are in order to return them home. Accountability in itself is not enough to return our children back home.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We need to check this information, because the Wagner Group mainly commits two types of illegal activity. One is that they fight as a part of the Russian armed forces. Second, they were among those who were the most brutal in terrorizing the civilian population. We can check this information for the purpose of giving you exact answers and provide you with a written statement, if you wish.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  This is very important. We are very supportive of using this instrument while we are collecting enough evidence to indict them. During this time, we share this information to sanction them, because sanctioning them on the medium level should deter others from committing these crimes.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm sorry, but that was not properly translated. Could you kindly repeat that?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  This is actually a big problem, because Russia does not co-operate with international organizations and with international mechanisms, even while being part of these international organizations and mechanisms. I always say that Russia uses any possibility in its favour—all existing international mechanisms, like the right to veto in the Security Council of the UN.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  This is a sensitive issue. I cannot give you the full picture of all the children who were returned back home. We are treating them very sensitively and, for the matter of justice, we also enhanced our communication with children. We changed our approaches and techniques. We are usually limited to one interrogation or one communication with the children, because we can't retraumatize them.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We have evidence of both, but if we look at the mapping of crimes committed on the occupied territories against civilians, we understand that once again there is a systematic policy of persecution, because the crimes committed against civilians during occupation mostly were aimed at breaking the will of Ukrainian people.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the question. Of course, they are investigating 110,000 war crimes. This is the figure we have fixed on at the moment. We all understand that the real number is much higher, because we have no access to the temporary occupied territories. Coming back to investigate such a great number of war crimes means that we need to organize our work in a proper manner.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Second, we need to secure the safe and unimpeded return of Ukrainian children to their families, guardians and homes through meaningful and mobilized assistance. We hope to see Canada at the forefront of this initiative as co-leader of point four of Ukraine's peace formula. Third, we need to continue the effective investigation and prosecution of each and every individual perpetrator, denying them any opportunity for safe haven.