Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia called the issue of deported children a “show for childless European grandmothers” during Istanbul talks and admitted to abducting several hundred youngest Ukrainians, UkrInform reports. 

“The first thing they said to us was ‘don’t put on a show for childless European grandmothers.’ We told them, ‘You have kidnapped 20,000.’ They said they didn’t kidnap 20,000, but at most a few hundred,” Zelenskyy says.

According to him, this is an important admission, not about the number, but the fact that the Russian delegation acknowledged having kidnapped children.

The Ukrainian president also said the Kyiv representatives handed over to the Russian side a list with the names of nearly 400 children at the Istanbul meeting.

“They offered to work on a plan regarding up to 10 children. That’s their idea of dealing with humanitarian issues,” Zelenskyy continues.

When asked whether the secret operation, Spiderweb, affected the behavior of the Russian delegation in Istanbul and whether they threatened Ukraine less, Zelenskyy responded that Moscow’s representatives behaved “a little calmer than before.”

Ukrainian drones hit four Russian military airfields, Belyayevo, Dyagilevo, Olenya, and Ivanovo. The plan allowed them to simultaneously strike the largest number of enemy aircraft, UNIAN reports. 

Regarding threats from the Russian side, Zelenskyy calls them futile. 

“Arrogant people behaved somewhat more modestly. We’ll see—maybe some more measures are needed, and then everyone will try to behave properly,” he adds.

At the Istanbul talks, the Russian delegation threatened to derail the peace process if Ukraine repeated operations like Spiderweb. 

Earlier, Ukrainian Pravda, citing a Ministry of Defense source, reported there was some progress in the talks, but Russia mainly focused on secondary issues, seeking ways to delay the peace process.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy participated in today’s Bucharest Nine summit. At the gathering, Ukraine received an invitation to the NATO summit in The Hague.

In May, the Italian ANSA wrote that the US opposed inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the NATO summit in The Hague amid peace talks and Russia’s demands to promise not to approve Kyiv as a member of the Alliance.