On May 11, the European Union will impose new personal sanctions against Russian citizens for "illegal deportation" of children, which the Russian side calls "evacuation", from the war zone in Ukraine at the beginning of the fighting, Reuters reported.
"EU foreign ministers will impose new sanctions against Russia on Monday", Reuters quoted its sources in Brussels as saying, according to which these restrictions will be related to the so-called deportation of children.
The EU's personal sanctions include blocking bank assets of individuals in Europe if they are found there and a ban on entry to EU countries.
In her statements on Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen regularly mentions "thousands of Ukrainian children", who were allegedly taken to Russia during the fighting.
During the second round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in June 2025 in Istanbul, the Ukrainian delegation handed Russia a list of 339 names of children. Only 13 people from this list actually ended up in Russia and have already been handed over to relatives in Ukraine and third countries, according to a bulletin on the activities of the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova dated May 7, 2026.