Youngsters in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine have been variously eliminated or compelled to sit down faculty classes in Russian.
Qatar stated on Monday it had reunited with their households in Ukraine 4 Ukrainian youngsters who had been on Russian territory after being taken by the Moscow authorities following the invasion in February 2022.
“Qatar pronounces the profitable completion of an operation to reunite quite a few Ukrainian youngsters with their households,” the international ministry in Doha stated in an announcement.
It stated it hoped the operation would mark “the start” of a course of to repatriate extra youngsters to Ukraine.
The ministry defined that final week it had introduced collectively the youngsters and their households on the Qatari embassy in Moscow, earlier than “transporting them to their ultimate vacation spot” in Ukraine.
A Qatari diplomatic supply near the case stated that 4 youngsters had been in a position to attain Ukraine on Monday, describing the operation as a “breakthrough” and a “gesture of goodwill” on the a part of Russia.
For its half, the Qatari Overseas Ministry stated that the “success of the operation testifies to the credit score Qatar enjoys with the varied events (in battle) and its ongoing quest for peace and stability within the area and the world”.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of deporting “tens of 1000’s” of Ukrainian youngsters who had been “kidnapped” within the occupied territories of Ukraine.
The Worldwide Prison Court docket has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the “unlawful deportation” of 1000’s of Ukrainian youngsters since February 2022.
Moscow rejects these allegations.
In response to the spouse of the Ukrainian president, Olena Zelenska, greater than 19,000 Ukrainian youngsters have been transferred or taken by power to Russia or to occupied areas.
Solely 386 have been returned to Ukraine, she informed a press convention on the sidelines of the UN Normal Meeting in New York on 20 September.
Qatar performs the function of mediator in lots of worldwide affairs. It lately facilitated an settlement on a prisoner trade between america and Iran, which included Washington lifting its freeze on six billion {dollars} of Iranian belongings.