Return to Ukraine of sixteen children “forcibly transferred” to Russia after an agreement between Kiev and Moscow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that sixteen Ukrainian children “forcibly transported to Russia” were able to “reunite with their families.” Russia previously announced an exchange between Moscow and Kiev, citing a larger number of minors.

“A group of 16 Ukrainian children and their relatives are now in Qatar to provide medical, psychological and social assistance. All were forcibly transported to Russia, but thanks to the mediation efforts of friendly Qatar, they were released and reunited with their families,” he said.

“Thousands of other forcibly deported Ukrainian children remain in Russia. It is heartbreaking to realize that over time they grow up far from their family and homeland. Together, we must do everything we can to bring every child home, and I thank everyone around the world who is helping us in this difficult task,” he continued.

Agreement with Russia

Earlier, the Commissioner for Children’s Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Lvova-Belova, announced an agreement with Kiev on the exchange of 48 children displaced as a result of the war. “As a result, 29 children will return to Ukraine, and 19 to Russia,” she told the press, without specifying the details of the minors’ biographies.

Like Russian President Vladimir Putin, the official has been targeted since the spring of 2023 due to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, which, like Ukraine, believes that thousands of Ukrainian children were not displaced as a result of the fighting, but deliberately deported by Russia. Moscow resolutely rejects this.

In March, four Ukrainian children were repatriated from Russia through the mediation of Doha, after a similar operation carried out a month earlier involving eleven minors.

In recent months, Qatar, according to Kyiv and Moscow, has acted as a mediator in the delicate issue of the repatriation of Ukrainian children who have been in Russia since February 2022.

Thousands of children deported

Ukraine estimates that at least 20,000 Ukrainian minors were deported to Russia from the occupied zones over two years, although the total number could be much higher since the figure only concerns officially identified children. According to Kyiv, just under 400 of them have been repatriated so far.

In the spring of 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for their direct participation in the “deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia since February 2022.

The accusations have been repeatedly denied by Russian authorities, who say they are protecting children from fighting and say they are willing to hand the children over to relatives in Ukraine if they request it.

They also explained that when the children arrived, they developed a special program, some of whom were sent to camps where the emphasis was on patriotic education.

Although Russia is not a member of the ICC, Vladimir Putin’s travel abroad is difficult due to the threat of arrest abroad.