A new group of eight Ukrainian children from occupied territories who were deported to Russia returned to territory under the control of the Kiev government thanks to the mediation of Qatari authorities, the Ukrainian president confirmed on Wednesday.
“We have achieved the return to Ukraine of another eight Ukrainian children who were deported to Russia from our temporarily occupied territory,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in his address to the nation on Wednesday evening.
Zelenskiy thanked Qatar and the Ukrainian ombudsman, Dmitro Lubinets, for their commitment to the operation.
Qatar already took part in negotiations in October that allowed the return to territory under Ukrainian control of a first group of four Ukrainian minors deported to Russia from occupied territories.
Thousands of Ukrainian minors were transferred from the occupied territories of Ukraine to other areas under Russian control or to the Russian Federation itself by Moscow-imposed authorities in eastern and southern Ukraine.
The Russian government justifies these practices with the need to keep these minors safe.
In March this year, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued two arrest warrants against the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and his Commissioner for the Protection of Children, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the mass deportation of Ukrainian minors.
Source: DN
