Russia agreed to return six more deported children to Ukraine. Qatar acted as a mediator in the negotiations

Russia agreed to return six deported children to Ukraine through the mediation of Qatar. It is planned that the children will go to Ukraine through Belarus.

This was stated by Qatarʼs Minister of State for International Cooperation Lolwa Al-Khater, as writes The Washington Post (WP).

According to WP sources, the mother of one of the children — an 11-year-old boy — is a Ukrainian military woman who is currently being held captive by the occupiers. His father died about ten years ago, and now the boy will stay with his maternal aunt. Until now, he lived with relatives in the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk region.

Another 13-year-old boy was visiting his grandmother in a village in Russia. He met his mother in occupied Simferopol. Then they came together to Moscow, and from there they will go to Ukraine. A 15-year-old teenager who lived with his grandmother under Russian occupation in the Zaporizhzhia region will be reunited with his mother in Kyiv.

An eight-year-old boy who lived with his grandmother in the occupied part of Luhansk region was reunited with his mother after Qatar helped her get to Luhansk. Qatari diplomats helped escort the family to Moscow, and now they will return to Ukraine via Belarus.

The other two children, who live with their father and adult sister in Russia, will return to Ukraine with their sister to be reunited with their mother.

Qatar has long acted as a mediator between various countries, and also helped in the release of Hamas hostages. Doha also negotiated the release of Americans from Iran and was the main mediator in negotiations with the Taliban.

• Deportation of Ukrainian children is one of Russiaʼs war crimes, for which the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and the childrenʼs ombudsman of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova. Currently, at least 19 546 Ukrainian children are known to have been forcibly deported to Russia, less than 400 of them have been returned. Ukraine also has evidence that Belarus participates in the deportation of Ukrainian children.