PATHWAYS TO PEACE: Ukraine hoping SA will announce progress on returning abducted children

Ukraine hopes that South Africa’s participation in this week’s international conference on the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia indicates that it might be able to help secure the release of some of the children.Another encouraging sign is that President Cyril Ramaphosa apparently discussed the conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met in India earlier in September.Ramaphosa’s intelligence adviser Sydney Mufamadi, and Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) Zane Dangor, were attending the Pathways to Peace: Second International Conference on Returning Ukrainian Children, Detained Civilians, and Prisoners of War in Toronto, Canada, on 28 and 29 September, officials said.The conference was organised by Canada, Ukraine and Norway “to strengthen international support for efforts to bring people home, protect those who remain under Russian control and ensure that those who return can access rehabilitation and reintegration services”, the Canadian government said.Neither Mufamadi nor Dangor replied to requests to confirm they were attending or to say what message they would convey from Pretoria to the many countries participating in the conference. In particular, Daily Maverick asked them if South Africa had made any progress so far in helping secure the release of any children.Ukrainian authorities have confirmed 20,651 records of possible unlawful deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children by Russia during the war, with 2,573 children returned to Ukraine from deportation, forcible transfer and temporary occupation.Zelensky’s listWhen Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Pretoria in April 2025, he gave Ramaphosa a list of 400 of those abducted children, which he asked him to try to get back. Ramaphosa agreed.There have been no indications since then that SA has made any progress. Success would require Pretoria to use any influence as it has over Russia, which is why there is some curiosity over Ramaphosa’s remark when he met Putin on 11 September in New Delhi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomes Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Union Buildings on 24 April 2025. (Photo: Siyabulela Duda) “We are also grateful that we’ve been invited to participate in the Pathways to Peace International Conference that will be taking place in Canada. So we want to hear your views on that as well, because we would like to attend, to see how best we can continue advancing our relations,” he said.Was Ramaphosa hinting that he intended to ask Putin in private to agree to return some of the 400 children on the list? It is not clear, and Mufamadi, Dangor and other officials did not respond to requests for clarification.What is known is that Ramaphosa has made the return of the Ukrainian children an issue for more than three years. He raised it directly with Putin on 17 June 2023 in St Petersburg when he met him on an African peace mission with other African leaders. Putin seemed to fob him off.South Africa had abstained from all UN General Assembly resolutions criticising Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, until on 3 December 2025 it supported a resolution demanding that Russia immediately release the Ukrainian children.‘Encouraging sign’Ukraine’s ambassador to South Africa, Olexander Scherba, told Daily Maverick: “In light of Russia’s barbaric strikes on Ukrainian cities, any public condemnation [by South Africa, at the Toronto conference] of Russia’s imperial war and slaughter of civilians would mean a lot.“And as to the return of Ukrainian children kidnapped from Ukraine, there has been an exchange of lists with children’s names between SA and Russia for quite a while. I do hope that at some point it brings results, and the children who have been stolen from their home country like pieces of furniture will come home, with South Africa’s help. South African participation in the Toronto summit might be an encouraging sign to that end.”The Ukrainian Association of South Africa said it was “pleased that the South African government will be attending the conference. As President Ramaphosa recently had a personal meeting with Vladimir Putin, who is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant specifically in connection with the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children, and whose military forces have committed more than 200,000 documented war crimes, we hope that the return of the 400 Ukrainian children whose names were handed over to President Ramaphosa was part of their discussion. [In New Delhi] we hope to see these children return to Ukraine and be reunited with their families and communities.“Children from the occupied territories, and especially those who have been forcibly deported, are subjected to daily indoctrination and militarisation.“Every day they remain in Russia increases the risk that, upon turning 18, they could be sent to die at the frontline. The Moscow Mechanism, a human-rights mechanism which Russia is participating in, has clearly highlighted the risks associated with the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, including the risk of militarisation and conditioning children for military service.“South African and Ukrainian children’s rights experts have already produced two policy briefs outlining the key issues surrounding the deportation and militarisation of Ukrainian children, and we would be happy to support the South African government with this expertise and share our knowledge of the issues and the practical steps that can be taken to help these children return to their families.” DM