Russia kidnapped 20 Ukrainian children: The UN recognized this as a crime against humanity.

The abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia constitutes a crime against humanity, the UN has declared. This is stated in a new report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the events on Ukraine. Air force.

The report states that Russian authorities "at the highest level" and with the direct involvement of Putin approved the deportation of thousands of children from occupied areas of Ukraine.

Ukraine claims nearly 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus.

The UN commission has currently identified 1205 cases of children being removed from Ukrainian territory by Moscow in 2022.

On the subject: 'My mother was killed, I was kidnapped': Ukrainian children spoke in The Hague about Russian crimes

80% of these children have still not been returned. Many parents and guardians still don't know the whereabouts of their abducted minors.

According to the UN, this constitutes the forcible removal of children and the unjustified delay of their return, which is a crime against humanity and a war crime.

Most of the children mentioned in the UN report lived in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics – Ukrainian regions illegally controlled by Moscow.

The report states that shortly before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow evacuated these children to the Russian Federation, claiming they were in danger from Ukraine. The children were then placed with families or institutions and granted Russian citizenship.

Moscow has always denied accusations of forcibly removing children from Ukrainian territory.

Vladimir Putin once claimed that "the story of 'child abductions'... is exaggerated," insisting that these children were "rescued" from the war zone. At the same time, he assured that there were "no problems" with the children's return to their homeland.

However, Kyiv has always maintained that this is not the case, and a UN report says it has been extremely difficult for children to return to Ukraine.

According to the UN, this forced displacement and severing of ties with the homeland, combined with forced ideological indoctrination in Russia, “has become a source of profound suffering for children.”

The report states that those who manage to return suffer from psychological trauma, anxiety, and fear of abandonment, often due to abuse in Russia. One child was told by staff at a Russian orphanage that his country, Ukraine, "no longer exists, everything burned down, and his parents were probably dead."

"I'm still looking for my daughter and I'm terribly afraid of what she might think of me and how she's surviving in Russia, where many people hate Ukrainians," the report quotes the mother, who was unable to find her child, as saying.

In 2023, the International Criminal Court, issuing an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, accused him and Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of illegally deporting Ukrainian children.

Lvova-Belova gave an interview in which she said she "took in" a 15-year-old boy from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which is now under Russian control, and "re-educated" him, despite the fact that he "did not want to go" to Russia.

Ukraine reports that it has so far managed to return 2000 children.

US First Lady Melania Trump has been involved in facilitating the reunification of children with their families. Last year, she stated that she had an "open channel of communication" with Vladimir Putin after he responded to her letter expressing concern about child victims of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

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The war in Ukraine continues despite several rounds of negotiations involving delegations from Moscow and Kyiv, as well as the United States.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has killed more than 15,000 civilians, injured more than 41,300, and displaced 3,7 million Ukrainians.

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