Deputy PM Vereshchuk appeals to Russian commissioners to provide lists of Ukrainian orphans
Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegrating Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk has publically appealed to Russian Ombudspersons Tatiana Moskalkova and Maria Lvova-Belova to provide lists of all Ukrainian orphans deported to Russia.
In a Facebook post dated March 18, Vereshchuk said she wanted several details about the abducted Ukrainian children:
"I propose (that you) immediately hand over to the Ukrainian side lists of all orphans and children deprived of parental care who: 1) as of Feb. 24, 2022, were citizens of Ukraine, up to the age of 18 inclusive; 2) are now in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine; 3) were taken from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to Russian territory," Vereshchuk wrote.
The appeal was published in Russian.
On March 17, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian Children's Ombudsperson Maria Lvova-Belova and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
They are accused of illegally deporting children from Ukraine to Russia since Feb. 24, 2022.
On March 2, Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets reported that the Russian authorities are holding approximately 6,000 Ukrainian children who were illegally deported to Russia in so-called "re-education camps."
Some Ukrainian civil organizations have estimated that up to 700,000 Ukrainian children may have been deported to Russia since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Some may have been genuine refugees, but there have also been many reports of children being taken from the parents in the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and sent to “re-education camps” in Russia.
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