Ukraine believes Russia has illegally kidnapped more than 19,000 of its children
Doha:
Russia and Ukraine have agreed in a Qatar-brokered deal to exchange nearly 50 children displaced by Moscow’s invasion, the Kremlin’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova announced in Doha on Wednesday.
Moscow is accused of forcibly bringing Ukrainian children into Russian territory during its massive offensive, with Lvova-Belova wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges related to these allegations.
“For the first time, we have had face-to-face talks with the Ukrainian side. Twenty-nine children will go to Ukraine and 19 to Russia,” Lvova-Belova announced.
She gave no details about why the children were in Russian hands or where they came from.
Ukraine believes Russia has illegally taken more than 19,000 of its children since the start of the 2022 invasion, with fewer than 400 returned.
Moscow denies the accusation and says it transferred children from combat zones for their safety.
The fate of children has been a very sensitive issue in Ukraine since the war started two years ago.
Some of the children’s parents were killed, while others were separated from caregivers by the fast-moving front lines early in the invasion.
Some lived in Ukrainian orphanages in areas that Russia then occupied.
Ukraine says Moscow’s forces illegally deported them to Russia, accusing Russian authorities of erasing their Ukrainian identity.
Teenagers returning to Ukraine said they received Russian patriotic education and had to praise the Russian military.
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