Qatar to return three Ukrainian children from Russia after repatriation talks

This was reported by Reuters.

Qatar on Friday facilitated the return of another Ukrainian child, aged 7, who was reunited with his grandmother and is en route to Ukraine via Estonia, the official said. The other three children are a boy aged 2, a 9-year-old boy, and a girl aged 17.

The return of these first four children tests a system the Gulf Arab state established after months of secret talks with Moscow and Kyiv, according to the Qatari official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the process.

Qatar’s minister of state for international cooperation, Lolwah Al Khater, confirmed the mediation in a statement and described this week’s repatriations as “only a first step”.

Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, shared a short initial list of Ukrainian children to be returned with a team of Qatari diplomats who verified each child’s identity, the official said.

It is not clear how many additional children Russia will authorize to return to Ukraine via the Qatari mechanism after the first four, the official said.

The first four children “were the first ones verified and (Russia and Ukraine) agreed they found their parents”, the official said.

Qatari diplomats will accompany the children over the border with Estonia, Latvia or Belarus or to Qatar by chartered jet before returning them to Ukraine, the official said.

“Both Ukrainian and Russian officials have been cooperative”, the Qatari official said.

About 400 children have been returned to Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion began in February 2022, but the United Nations human rights agency raised concerns last week that there was no system to facilitate the return.

Photo: Open sources