Latushka Urges Sybiha to Take Firm Stance on Transit of Belarusian Potash in Talks with EU

Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet and head of the National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) Pavel Latushka sent an official letter to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. He urged him to take a firm stance on issues related to Belarusian potash in sanctions negotiations with the European Union.

“Belaruskali is a direct institutional, financial and logistical participant in the unlawful mechanism of systematically transporting Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to Belarus, housing them there and subjecting them to ideological indoctrination,” Latushka said.

In the letter, he stated that, according to NAM data, at least 3,500 Ukrainian children had been transferred to Belarus. More than 2,000 children were sent to the Dubrava children’s health camp in the Salihorsk district, which is on the books of Belaruskali.

Latushka recalled that in 2023, NAM submitted information about the commission of these crimes to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Prosecutor General’s Offices of Ukraine and Lithuania opened investigations within their respective jurisdictions, during which Pavel Latushka and members of the NAM team gave witness statements.

In his letter, Pavel Latushka urged Ukraine’s foreign minister to:

1. Take a firm stance in dialogue with international partners and EU institutions, actively opposing any initiatives to ease or lift restrictions on exports and transit of Belarusian potash fertilizers to the EU, or to introduce exemptions from them.
2. Take into account evidence of the direct involvement of Belaruskali, its infrastructure and officials in the unlawful deportation of children when coordinating new packages of international restrictive measures.
3. Make any future discussions about the status of Belarus’s potash sector conditional on the complete cessation of the Belarusian regime’s involvement in Russia’s aggression and war crimes, as well as the full and immediate return of all Ukrainian children who were unlawfully transferred and the holding of those responsible accountable under international law.

The United Transitional Cabinet also noted that on September 25, during a meeting with a U.S. State Department delegation, Latushka presented evidence of Belaruskali’s financing of and the involvement of its management in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus.