Russians say they are ready to return five abducted Ukrainian children by the end of June
By the end of June, Russia will hand over five abducted Ukrainian children from the list that the Russian side received during the talks in Istanbul. This was stated by the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, propaganda media reports.
"We can say about five people who were already in work from this list, ready to return to the territory of Ukraine," Belova said.
She also noted that the children will be reunited with their loved ones in Ukraine by the end of June.
At the same time, she said, Russia is also preparing its own list of Russian children who are in Ukraine. The Ombudsman noted that they plan to submit the list "at the next round of negotiations."
"We also have children in Ukraine who need to be reunited with Russian families. We currently have eight children on the list who are in EU countries, they were evacuated there from Ukraine, and their parents are in Russia. And from Ukraine, we still have about 10 people with whom we are also currently negotiating their return," she said.
Belova allegedly cited training as the reason for the delay in the return of Ukrainian children.
The day before, President Zelensky reported that the Russians had offered to exchange Ukrainian children for their prisoners of war. The head of state emphasized that the occupiers' offer was incomprehensible and outside the bounds of international law .
- On June 2, Zelensky reported that during negotiations in Istanbul, the Russian delegation admitted that the Russian Federation had abducted Ukrainian children .
- On June 5, First Deputy Foreign Minister Kyslytsia reported that the head of the Russian delegation, Medinsky, cynically stated during the negotiations that "there are a couple of dozen, maybe a hundred Ukrainian children" in Russia . At the same time, Putin's ally himself confirmed that he had received a list of 339 abducted children from Ukraine.
- According to the Human Rights Commissioner Lubinets, as of October 2024, the occupiers had abducted more than 20,000 children from Ukraine. Another 1.5 million children may be deported .