The number of children exported by Russia from Ukraine exceeded 16 thousand. The European Union will continue to work to ensure that the perpetrators in this crime are held accountable. This was stated by the Vice President of the European Commission Vera Yurov at a meeting of the European Parliament.
The Vice-President of the European Commission recalled that the International Criminal Court (MUS) issued an arrest warrant of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Russia Maria Lvova-Belova as part of investigations of war crimes committed in Ukraine.
Yurova emphasized that this is the first similar decision since the beginning of the war, which thus demonstrated the significance given to this issue. “On the basis of the Order of the Mus to arrest in Ukraine, you can send a request to detain and issue suspects to any country where the location of these persons is determined, as well as asking for assistance from these states in their issuance,” explained the vice president of the European Commission.
According to her, under the pretext of evacuation, Russia forcibly exported Ukrainian children to the territories not controlled by Kyiv shortly before the start of a full -scale invasion in February 2022.
“Many Ukrainian and international organizations signaled about what is happening in these regions,” said Yurova.
According to the Ukrainian, the Platform “Children of the War”, while only 361 children were able to return to the country, the vice president of the European Commission said.