The resolution demands the safe return of Ukrainian children who were taken by force to Russia

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Thursday officially voted to designate the kidnapping and deportation of Ukrainian children by Russia to Russia, as "genocide".

The resolution demands the safe return of Ukrainian children who were taken by force to Russia, as well as appropriate punishment for those facilitating it – noting that the information gathered in the report aligns with the international definition of genocide.

It also notes that Moscow began illegal deportations from orphanages and care facilities even before it's full-scale invasion.

In a report led by Paulo Pisco, a Portuguese Deputy of the Assembly, Pisco said that deported children have undergone a process of ‘russification’ through re-education in the Russian language, being banned from speaking Ukrainian, and having been exposed to Kremlin propaganda.