Russia and Ukraine have agreed to return a total of nine children to each other to be reunited with family members, according to a senior Russian official, in the latest humanitarian exchange between the warring countries.
The transfers were agreed after mediation by Qatar, which has acted on several similar agreements since the start of the war in February 2022.
The Russian Commissioner for Children, Maria Lvova-Belova, reported this Thursday (28) that six boys and a girl, aged six to 16, were
“Most of the children lived in Russia with close relatives, mainly their grandmothers. A boy, 16 years old, who had been left without parental care since birth, was in the Aleshkinsky orphanage. His brother took custody of the child,” she said.
According to Lvova-Belova, children have very different stories. “Some are especially dramatic, like the case of the parents of a 12-year-old boy who divorced and, this year, the mother died. Now the boy will stay with his father in Ukraine.”
The commissioner declared on Wednesday (27) that Qatar’s mediation also allowed the repatriation of two Russian boys, aged seven and nine.
She said the older boy was reuniting with his mother after living with his father and grandmother in Ukraine since 2019.
The youngest was returning to his father after the death of his mother, who took him to Ukraine in 2020.
Lvova-Belova did not say how most of the children arrived in Russia.
Ukraine says around 20,000 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territories without their family’s or guardian’s consent since the start of the war, which meets the UN treaty’s definition of genocide.
Moscow claims it protected vulnerable children from the war zone.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Russia denounced the warrants as “outrageous and unacceptable”.
Understand the War between Russia and Ukraine
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and entered the territory from three fronts: through the Russian border, through Crimea and through Belarus, a country that is a strong ally of the Kremlin. Loyal forces made significant advances in the first few days, but the Ukrainians managed to maintain control of Kiev, although the city was also attacked.
The invasion was criticized internationally and the Kremlin was targeted.
In October 2024, after thousands of deaths, the war in Ukraine entered what analysts describe as its most dangerous moment yet.
Tensions rose when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the use of one during an attack on Ukrainian soil. The projectile carried conventional warheads, but is capable of carrying nuclear material.
The launch took place after Ukraine carried out one using weapons manufactured by Western powers, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
Western intelligence reports that Russia is using it in the conflict in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang neither deny nor confirm the report.
President Vladimir Putin, who , said that Russian forces are – and that Russia will achieve all its objectives in Ukraine, although he did not give details.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he believes Putin’s main goals are to occupy the entire Donbass region, encompassing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and to expel Ukrainian troops from Russia’s Kursk region, which they have controlled parts of since August. .
