Read Part 1

Diyana Alexandra Gabyak was born in Ukraine, and she grew up in the United States of America. This is the country where she went to school, got married, built her life, and gave birth to all of her children. “America is not simply the country where I live. It is my home, the nation where my family has established its roots, and the country whose future I care about deeply,” she says.

As a wife, mother, businesswoman, and co-founder of the American Ukrainian Christian Alliance, she has tried to serve this nation in several fronts. Inside the Board of Directors of National School Ministries, she advocates for Bible education for public school students across the country and is also involved in humanitarian outreach as part of the Transform Lives Global’s Board.

A graduate of Regent University and currently a master’s student at the Robertson School of Government, she is passionate about deepening her understanding of public policy, leadership, and the responsibilities of public service.

“I have the extraordinary blessing of carrying two nations in my heart: the country of my birth and the country that shaped my upbringing, my opportunities, my family, and so much of who I am today,” she reflected. “But that every blessing carries responsibility.”

What dangers do you fear most in this stage of the war?

History teaches us that unresolved aggression can return in even more destructive forms. Peace cannot mean that a stronger nation acquires the right to determine the freedom, existence, or future of a smaller nation through military force.

I believe the United States carries an extraordinary diplomatic responsibility in helping achieve a durable peace. And I believe that responsibility must be exercised with wisdom, moral clarity, strategic understanding, and serious consideration of the long-term consequences. America should be a peacemaker, not a contributor to greater international instability. But true peacemaking is not the same as simply reaching an agreement. A peace agreement must be judged not only by whether it ends immediate hostilities, but also by whether it protects human lives, respects sovereignty, creates credible security, and reduces the likelihood of another war.

I am deeply concerned about policies that could reward aggression, normalize attacks against civilians, or allow the resources of international cooperation to strengthen the military capacity of governments engaged in unlawful aggression.

We must be willing to examine the consequences of our decisions, even when doing so is politically uncomfortable.

As an American mother of five, I do not want my children or grandchildren to inherit a more dangerous world because our generation failed to think beyond immediate political circumstances.

We cannot afford to make decisions today without considering what those decisions may mean for our national security, our international credibility, and the future of our children.

Peace before anything?

The Bible reminds us in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” I believe that is a profound responsibility. Peacemaking requires wisdom. It requires courage. It requires justice. And it requires an understanding that the absence of conflict is not always the same as the presence of genuine peace.

My hope is that America will continue exercising its influence not merely to bring wars to an end, but to help establish conditions under which peace can endure, human dignity can be protected, and future generations do not have to relive the tragedies of the past.

As a mother yourself, can you describe the case of the kidnapping of children in the occupied territories?

This is perhaps the most heartbreaking issue for me to discuss. I cannot imagine a greater tragedy for a parent than having a child taken away, not knowing where that child is, who is caring for them, what they are being taught, or whether they will ever return home. But for many Ukrainian families, this is not something they have to imagine. It is a nightmare they are living through.

When we discuss the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children, I want Americans to understand that we are not simply discussing an international legal dispute. We are talking about children who have names, families, homes, memories, dreams, and identities.

Children who once sat around dinner tables with their parents. Children who had favorite toys, friends, schools, churches, and grandparents who loved them. Imagine putting your son or daughter to bed tonight, kissing them goodnight, and waking up tomorrow to discover that someone has taken them away.

Imagine learning that your child has been transported into another country, placed with people they have never met, given new identity documents, and exposed to teachings that portray their homeland as an enemy. Imagine not knowing whether your child remembers your face, your voice, your love, or even their own family history. Imagine someone attempting to convince your child that the nation of their birth is something to reject rather than a place to call home.

How does a mother begin to comprehend that? How does a father live with the uncertainty of not knowing whether his child is safe? How does a family move forward when there is an empty chair at the dinner table and no answer about when their child may return?

It sounds horrible…

As a mother, I find this almost impossible to comprehend. And yet this is precisely why we cannot allow the issue to become just another statistic in discussions about the war.

In March 2026, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that Russian authorities had committed crimes against humanity through the deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children and their enforced disappearance. The Commission verified more than 1,200 cases involving children from five Ukrainian regions. It also reported that approximately 80% of the children in the documented cases had not been returned at the time of its investigation. The findings described coordinated practices involving the transfer of children, their placement in Russian families and institutions, the granting of Russian citizenship, and serious obstacles preventing their families from locating and recovering them.

Do you think those kids have also been indoctrinated in Russia?

That is also another dimension that concerns me profoundly: the ideological re-education and militarization of children.

International investigators have documented practices in occupied territories that seek to replace Ukrainian national identity with Russian state narratives, including militarized educational activities.

Think about the long-term implications.

A child can be physically removed from their home, but there can also be an attempt to separate that child from their language, history, family identity, and understanding of their homeland. And when children are exposed to militarized ideology, the concern extends beyond their immediate captivity or displacement.

It raises serious questions about what they are being taught concerning violence, obedience, national identity, and their relationship with the people and country from which they came.

As a Christian mother, I believe children are a sacred gift entrusted by God to families. Psalm 127:3 reminds us that children are a heritage from the Lord. Children do not belong to governments, armies, or political ideologies. They are human beings created in the image of God, possessing dignity and worth that no political authority has the right to erase.

No government should have the power to unlawfully take children from their families, conceal their whereabouts, change their identity, or prevent them from returning to those who love them. Children who have experienced forced separation, displacement, indoctrination, or prolonged uncertainty may carry emotional and psychological wounds for years. They may need extensive support to recover their sense of safety, identity, belonging, and trust. That is why our responsibility cannot end with bringing children back across a border. We must also think about family reunification, trauma-informed care, education, spiritual support, and the restoration of the communities that can help them heal.

Do you have a message for American mothers and fathers?

If this were your child, would you consider the issue resolved simply because two governments signed a peace agreement?

Would you accept a diplomatic announcement while your son or daughter remained somewhere in a foreign country, separated from your family?

Would you stop searching? Would you stop demanding answers? Of course not. You would do everything within your power to bring your child home.

And Ukrainian mothers and fathers deserve that same determination from the international community. The return of unlawfully deported and transferred Ukrainian children must remain a central humanitarian priority in every serious discussion about ending this war.

The United States and its international partners should continue supporting the identification and tracing of children, independent access to their whereabouts, safe family reunification, psychological rehabilitation, and appropriate legal accountability. Their return should never be treated as a political favor or something to be exchanged for concessions. It is a matter of fundamental human dignity and the rights of children and families.

There is also a responsibility that falls upon Christian communities.

We cannot claim to defend family values while remaining indifferent when families are unlawfully torn apart. We cannot speak about protecting children while overlooking those whose identities and relationships are being deliberately disrupted.

We cannot speak seriously about justice while ignoring the suffering of parents who are still searching for their sons and daughters. For me, this issue reaches beyond nationality, ethnicity, or political affiliation. It reaches into the most fundamental understanding of what it means to be human.

A child should never become an instrument of war. A mother’s love should never become a bargaining chip in diplomacy. And no peace can be considered morally complete while families remain unlawfully separated and children are denied the right to return home.

I will never regard this as a distant international issue.

These children could have been mine. And I believe every parent who values family, freedom, and human dignity should recognize that the suffering of these families demands our attention.