Valentyn Ogirenko/ Reuters
Ukrainian authorities have charged three people over the deportation of 35 children from the occupied region to Russia, in a case Kyiv says amounts to a war crime.
According to investigators, the children, aged four to six, were taken from a state-run orphanage in Donetsk in February 2022, just days before Russia launched its full-scale invasion. They were transported to Russia’s Rostov region and later placed in local institutions, News.Az reports, citing Kyiv Post.
Ukrainian prosecutors say some of the children were later handed over to Russian families under the guise of guardianship and have not been returned.
Kyiv says the operation was planned in advance and carried out with the involvement of occupation authorities, describing it as part of a broader pattern of forced transfers from territories under Russian control.
The suspects were charged in absentia under Ukraine’s war crimes statutes. Officials say they are believed to be in Russia or in occupied areas of Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities have opened thousands of cases related to the deportation of children since the start of the invasion, calling the issue one of the war’s gravest humanitarian consequences.
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