The russian authorities have recorded in their official documents the removal of 744,000 Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories to russia. At the same time, Ukrainian authorities have verified nearly 19,500 children and established their whereabouts. This was reported by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, in an interview with army.fm.
Lubinets noted that, for example, the russian President’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, who has received an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, officially cited 744,000 as the number of Ukrainian children physically removed by the occupiers from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine to the russian Federation.
“Another figure is 19,546. That is the figure verified by Ukrainian authorities and intelligence agencies. These are Ukrainian children whom we have found, verified, where they are currently located, and what is happening to them,” the ombudsman added.
He explained that some of these children have been “adopted” by the russians. For example, Lvova-Belova herself “adopted” a Ukrainian boy, Philip, from Mariupol. He is now considered a citizen of the russian Federation.Another example is the story of a little Ukrainian girl, Margaryta. She was deported when she was 10 months old. She was “adopted” by russian State Duma deputy Sergey Mironov. Her first name, patronymic, surname, date, and place of birth were changed. She is now recorded as Maryna Mironova, allegedly born in the moscow region.
“At the same time, she has a brother and a sister in Ukraine. We have repeatedly offered to conduct a DNA test for her return. There are many such cases,” the commissioner noted.
