Peskov says Putin decided to personally hold the tea gathering with the children of fallen SVO soldiers during the holiday itself

The president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the November 4 meeting at the Kremlin with the children of servicemen killed during the SVO was not planned: Vladimir Putin invited the children himself, right during the National Unity Day events. The meeting was also attended by the mothers of the fallen and Anna Tsivilyova.

Otabek YusupovFirst published on tafs uz 8 November 2026 at 14:412 min read

The key facts

The November 4 tea gathering at the Kremlin was not part of the National Unity Day program — the initiative came personally from Putin
Peskov called caring for the children of those killed in the SVO a 'sacred topic' for the president
The meeting was attended by the mothers of the fallen servicemen and Anna Tsivilyova

A meeting that was not on the program

Russian President Vladimir Putin's tea gathering with the children of servicemen killed during the special military operation took place on November 4, on National Unity Day — however, it was not originally part of the holiday program. This was reported by the president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov in an interview with Pavel Zarubin, a journalist for the Rossiya Segodnya media group and the Rossiya TV channel (the outlets Life.ru and Gazeta.Ru cite the same interview, giving matching details).

How the decision was made

According to Peskov, Putin decided to invite the children 'right in the middle of' the festive events. That day, the president laid flowers at the Minin and Pozharsky monument on Red Square, and the children of fallen soldiers took part in the ceremony. Peskov relayed the president's words: 'Let's invite them all, if they haven't left Moscow yet'. The head of state instructed that a meeting be arranged to continue the conversation at the Kremlin — thus, the evening tea gathering became a continuation of the conversation that began that day on Red Square.

Who attended and how the Kremlin explained it

Besides the president and the children, the meeting was attended by the mothers of the fallen servicemen, as well as Deputy Defense Minister and chairwoman of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation Anna Tsivilyova. Peskov accompanied his account of Putin's initiative with an emotional characterization: 'These are children whose fathers died in the SVO. And for the president this is a sacred topic, a sacred topic without exaggeration.' Peskov's significant clarification — about the spontaneous nature of the invitation — appeared several days after the meeting itself, on November 8, and adds to the initial reports about the tea gathering that took place, which explained where and when it happened, but not how the idea came about.