It isn’t often that I find a reason to praise either house of the United States Congress these days. But it appears that the Senate is presently on the right track with a bill — a bipartisan bill, no less — that involves a matter near and dear to my heart: a swift return of the kidnapped children of Ukraine.

Senators Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, Connecticut) and Lindsey Graham (Republican, South Carolina) are advancing a bill to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism due to the forced removal and “rehoming” in Russia of an estimated 19,500 Ukrainian children since the start of the war in 2022.

Only four countries — Iran, North Korea, Syria and Cuba — currently bear the designation of state sponsors of terrorism. This is the second time Congress has proposed adding Russia to the list since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and is prompted by U.S. lawmakers’ growing frustration with Vladimir Putin’s stalled peace negotiations and the increased number and ferocity of his military’s attacks on Ukraine.

The new bill — titled “Designating the Russian Federation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act” — would, if adopted, require that the U.S. Secretary of State submit a report to Congress within 60 days, certifying that children “who were kidnapped, deported, or forcibly removed from Ukrainian territory,” including Russian-occupied areas, had been safely reunited with their families or guardians and that their full reintegration into Ukrainian society was underway. [Todd Prince, RFE/RL, September 19, 2025.]

I can’t think of an issue more compelling than the lives of nearly 20,000 children. But even if the bill passes smoothly through Congress, will it be approved by the White House?

Adoption of the bill would make it “very difficult for [anyone] to do any above-board business with Russia,” Senator Graham said. It would also make it more difficult for the U.S. to lift or ease sanctions already imposed on Russia — something Donald Trump has said he would want to do if a peace agreement were reached. [Id.]

So in a sense, those innocent children are not only being held hostage by Vladimir Putin; they may also become collateral in Trump’s efforts to negotiate lucrative trade deals with Putin while still appearing to the world to be holding his adversary’s feet to the fire in relation to Ukraine.

It’s quite a balancing act. And in the meantime, those vulnerable children are being indoctrinated into Russian life, and prepared for Russian military service. If we wait too long, we may be too late.

So please keep fighting, Senators. Do something you can be proud of.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/20/25