JRS 42

                            State of Vermont
                             Senate Chamber
                                     Montpelier, Vermont
                              Joint Senate Resolution
  Offered by Senator Vyhovsky,
  J.R.S. 42. Joint resolution condemning the Russian Federation's military and political actions in
Ukraine and especially their impact on Ukrainian children.
    Whereas, the large-scale Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, extended
its occupation of sovereign Ukrainian territory, and
   Whereas, this unjustified cross-border incursion was initiated with the illegal February–March 2014
invasion of Crimea, when the Russians quickly annexed Crimea, premised on the dubious election they
ordered and controlled, and which in no way reflected the will of the individuals living in Crimea, as
well as the later 2014 invasion of the Donbas region of Ukraine, and
   Whereas, aside from the continuing presence and reinforcement of Russian military personnel,
ongoing land-based warfare, and the unrelenting onslaught of missiles and attacks on civilian
infrastructure, which has wrought havoc and loss of life on Ukrainians located far from the front lines
of ground combat, including leaving millions of civilians without regular heating and power for
months during Ukraine’s harsh winter, the Russian invasion has resulted in a devastating impact on
Ukrainian children, and
   Whereas, on March 9, 2022, Russian forces attacked a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine,
causing at least four deaths, including that of one child, and a minimum of 16 documented deaths, with
likely more undocumented, and injuries, and
   Whereas, according to a report by Yale University researchers in collaboration with the U.S.
Department of State, forcibly transferring children from one group to another is potentially a war
crime, and
   Whereas, Maria Lvova-Belova, the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Russian
Federation, is closely associated with her nation’s policy of abducting Ukrainian children, now
numbering in the thousands, facilitating their forced relocation, and, in some instances, their
involuntary adoption into Russian families or forced placement in the Russian military, and
  Whereas, some of these children have relatives who are alive and remain in Ukraine, and
   Whereas, on June 16, 2022, the proxy Russian government of the occupied Kherson region of
Ukraine announced that all newborns would be granted Russian citizenship and that orphans will also
be registered as Russian citizens; further, on July 11, 2022, Secretary-General of the United Nations,
António Guterres, ordered an investigation into the deaths and injuries of Ukrainian children, and
   Whereas, in both 2023 and 2025, the Yale School of Public Health Humanitarian Research Lab
identified a large network of camps or centers, located in either Russian-occupied areas or within
Russia’s internationally recognized borders, that were dedicated to the systematic reeducation of
Ukrainian children, attempting to change the children’s language and cultural heritage, and also
serving as a launching pad for involuntary Russian family adoptions or placement into military
service, now therefore be it
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   Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
   That the General Assembly condemns the Russian Federation’s horrific invasion of sovereign and
internationally recognized Ukrainian territory, and be it further
   Resolved: That the General Assembly deplores the Russian Federation’s abduction and forcible
transfer of Ukrainian children; the large network of camps that facilitate the cultural and linguistic
reeducation of Ukrainian children and the corresponding impact on the future of Ukraine’s cultural,
linguistic, and national identity; and the involuntary adoption and military induction of seized
Ukrainian children, and be it further
   Resolved: That the General Assembly strongly urges the government of the Russian Federation to
cease immediately its bombardment of Ukrainian infrastructure, withdraw its forces from Ukraine’s
internationally recognized territory, and return to Ukraine all children whom it has forcefully removed,
and be it further
  Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to the Russian
Federation and Ukrainian ambassadors to the United States.
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