According to the president, over 16,000 children were deported in Ukraine during the Russian war, and the real figures could be even higher. At the same time, Kyiv was officially able to return home about 300 children.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Kremlin head Vladimir Putin. In his daily address, the head of state said that this decision will begin a historic responsibility. The President’s address was published on his Telegram channel.
“A historic decision, from which historical responsibility will begin. The head of a terrorist state and another Russian official have officially become suspects in a war crime – in the deportation of Ukrainian children, in the illegal transfer of thousands of our children,” Zelensky said.
He noted that in the criminal cases that Ukrainian law enforcement officers are investigating, more than 16,000 cases of illegal transfer of children to the territory of the Russian Federation have already been recorded. However, the actual number of deported children may be much higher.
“It would be impossible to carry out such a large-scale operation without the order of the top leader of the terrorist country,” the president said.
According to the head of state, separating children from their families, depriving them of the opportunity to contact their relatives, and hiding children in Russia is the state policy of the Russian Federation.
“The evil of the state, which begins precisely with the first official of this country. I am grateful to the team of prosecutor Karim Khan and the International Criminal Court, to everyone in the world who helps us fight for justice,” the president said.
Zelensky said that Ukraine has already managed to return just over 300 children home. The state will continue to work in this direction in order to return everyone home, as well as to bring to justice all those responsible for the deportation of Ukrainians and Ukrainian women.
Volodymyr Zelensky about the arrest warrant for Putin
Recall that the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin. In addition to the Russian dictator, a court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, the presidential commissioner for children’s rights.
Then the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, said that Russia did not sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and is not obliged to obey its decisions.
In addition, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine explained what it means to issue a warrant for Putin’s arrest. According to Andriy Kostin, the decision of the International Criminal Court in The Hague is historic for Ukraine and the entire system of international law. And he added that law enforcement officers recorded the deportation of 16,000 children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
