Ukraine on Tuesday accused Moscow of organizing the mass illegal adoption of Ukrainian children transported from the occupied territories to Russia, reports AFP, taken by Agerpres.
“Russia continues to abduct children from the territory of Ukraine and organize their illegal adoption by Russian citizens,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said in a statement.
“More than 1,000 children from Mariupol”, a port city in the south-east of Ukraine, which fell into the hands of the Russian army, “were illegally handed over (for adoption) to foreigners in Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo and Altai districts”, in Siberia, the Ministry of referring to information published by the authorities of Krasnodar, a city in the south-west of Russia, located not far from Ukraine.
More than 300 Ukrainian children are also in “specialized institutions” in the Krasnodar region, the ministry claims.
These actions of Russia are a “serious violation of the Geneva Convention” on the protection of the civilian population during war and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Ukrainian agency accused.
“All Ukrainian children illegally moved to the territory of Russia must be returned to their parents or legal guardians,” he emphasized.
Ukrainians from the occupied regions are forced to hide in Russia
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, Kyiv has accused Moscow of forcing Ukrainians, and especially children from areas occupied by Russian forces, to flee to Russia rather than to other regions of Ukraine, a policy it compares to “deportations” by the Ukrainian authorities.
Several families from Mariupol told AFP they were forced to flee to Russia against their will to escape the fighting.
This strategic port on the Sea of Azov, which had about half a million inhabitants before the war, was attacked by the Russian army in the first hours of its offensive. After weeks of siege, the Russians killed at least 20,000 of the city’s residents, Kyiv estimates, and Mariupol came fully under the control of Moscow forces.
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Source: Hot News RU
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