Russia admits to deporting 700,000 children from Ukraine

This was stated in the report for 2022 by the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, against whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant on suspicion of child abduction.

Most of them arrived with their parents or relatives. However, according to the document, around 1,500 children from orphanages were also taken to Russia.

From April to October 2022, 380 children from Donetsk Oblast, who were left without parents, and 92 children from Luhansk Oblast were placed in Russian foster families in 19 regions. The occupiers also took 52 children from the Oleshky orphanage in Kherson Oblast to Crimea.

It should be noted that according to the adviser to the Commissioner for Children’s Rights and Child Rehabilitation of the President of Ukraine, Daria Gerasimchuk, Ukraine is currently aware of a little over 19,500 deported children, including those taken away from their biological parents.

Overall, according to Gerasimchuk, there could be potentially 200-300 thousand children kidnapped by the Russian authorities, but they cannot give an exact number.

Additionally, on March 7, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him of war crimes related to the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine. The warrant alleges that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility.

Photo: open sources