Ukraine is ready to recover Ukrainian orphans deported to Russia at the border of the Russian Federation with any EU country, declared Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk.
“As a representative of the government, I officially express my desire to take all our orphans. With the mediation of international organizations – the UN, the ICRC or other – we are ready to come to any European country on the border with the Russian Federation. For example, in Estonia, in Narva. And there to take all the Ukrainian orphans who are now illegally detained by Russia,” Vereshchuk said during a news telethon.
According to the Minister, at the moment the process of returning children is carried out in a targeted manner, since it is “very complicated and long”: “Sometimes the search, all the necessary procedures and the routes take several months”, said the Deputy Prime Minister. added. She also explained that if a child has parents, then they can arrange for their return, while only the state can return orphans and children deprived of parental care.
March 28 Irina Vereshchuk published on her Telegram channel, an appeal in Russian, in which she urges Russian citizens not to adopt Ukrainian children, recalling that it is “illegal and despicable”. She also noted that all the names of adoptive parents and officials involved in the adoption of Ukrainian children are known. Therefore, believes the Deputy Prime Minister, “sooner or later [им] will have to answer for their actions.
According to the portal “Children of War”, in Ukraine has been registered more than 19,500 cases of forced expulsion of minors. Just over 300 children were sent back.
International Criminal Court in The Hague March 17 gave to arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is suspected of illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. A similar mandate was issued against the Ombudsman for Children Maria Lvova-Belova.