Ukraine says Russia "repeatedly" blocks the return of Ukrainian minors

MADRID, 25 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Irina Vereshchuk, has assured that Russia has "repeatedly" blocked the return of Ukrainian minors after having been deported to Russian territory.

"I am frankly shocked by the behavior of Russian officials. It turns out that it is not enough for them to commit a crime, but to brag shamelessly. I think it is some kind of perversion to show your villainy to the whole world. But all this will not go unpunished." , Vereshchuklos has emphasized in a Telegram statement.

However, the Commissioner of the Ukrainian Parliament for Human Rights, Dimitro Lubinets, has stated that the Ukrainian authorities have received "signals" that the Russians may begin to systematically return the children, as reported by the Ukrinform agency.

For her part, the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights of the Russian Federation, Maria Alekseievna Lvova-Belova, assured this Thursday that 56 Ukrainian children, interned in centers for minors in Crimea and Krasnodar, are prepared to return together with their families in Ukraine.

According to the Russian official, it was not possible to immediately guarantee the return of the minors to their families because "the front line has changed significantly" throughout the course of the war, and the parents of these children have changed their location. in the last few months.

Likewise, Lvova-Belova has confirmed that, in the last two weeks, a total of 33 children from the Ukrainian regions of Jerson, Zaporiyia and Kharkov who were inmates in these centers for juveniles have been returned to their families.

This announcement by the Ukrainian authorities comes just a week after the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lvova-Belova herself for an alleged war crime related precisely to the forced deportation of Ukrainian minors.