Russia on Wednesday (Apr 24) announced a deal with Ukraine to exchange almost 50 children displaced by Moscow’s ‘special military invasion’ on neighbour Kyiv.
This comes as Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that 16 Ukrainian children who had been “forcibly deported to Russia” were “in Qatar for medical, mental, and social recovery”.
“All of them had previously been forcibly deported to Russia, but thanks to our friendly Qatar’s mediation efforts, they have been released,” said Zelensky. However, he did not address Russian claims about 48 children being exchanged.
In a statement, Kremlin official Maria Lvova-Belova announced that “for the first time in a face-to-face format, we held talks with the Ukrainian side. Twenty-nine children are due to go to Ukraine and 19 to Russia”.
However, as per AFP, when asked to confirm the agreement, Ukraine parliament’s human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said he “can’t confirm the information”.
As Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Doha, Dmytro Lubinets, declining to confirm the exchange of children, said the two countries “don’t have any direct communication on this case”.
This comes as more than two years into the Russia-Ukraine war, Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow of forcibly taking children into Russian territory. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has even issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lvova-Belova over this.
Since July of last year, Qatar has enabled the return of dozens of Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia.
Ukraine, as per reports, believes Russia has illegally deported more than 19,000 Ukrainian children since the start of the 2022 invasion. Of this, the country says less than 400 have been returned.
Moscow has however denied the charge and instead claims it has transferred children away from fighting zones for their safety.
(With inputs from agencies)