Four children who were deported by Russia during the war have returned to Ukraine.
This was written by the head of the Presidentʼs Office (OP) Andriy Yermak.
Three boys (aged six, three and nine) and a 17-year-old girl returned.
"We continue to implement the action plan of the President of Bring Kids Back UA. Volodymyr Zelensky set the task of returning all our children. We are working on it. Russia should be punished for genocide," wrote the head of the OP.
Earlier, the "Reuters" agency wrote that Qatar is helping to return deported Ukrainian children from Russia. It was noted there that three Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia will be handed over to Qatari diplomats in Moscow this week. The return of the first children will test the system put in place by Qatar after months of negotiations with Kiev and Moscow.
- On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the Russian Presidentʼs Commissioner for Childrenʼs Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. They are accused of directing the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, which is a war crime. Children were taken out without the permission of relatives and Ukraine, in Russia they were granted citizenship. For this purpose, Putin passed a number of decrees that simplified these procedures, and Lvova-Belova carried out his instructions. Together with their parents, up to 150 000 children could be deported to Russia. This is the fifth time in its history that the International Court of Justice has issued such a warrant to a sitting president.
- According to the state portal "Children of War", as of September 13, Ukraine was able to officially confirm the deportation of 19 546 children, and 386 were returned. Childrenʼs Ombudsman of Ukraine Daria Herasymchuk stated that since part of the territory of Ukraine is under occupation and the authorities do not have access to it, about several hundred thousand kidnapped children.