Over 16,000 Ukrainian kids abducted by Russia as Putin hit with arrest warrant

17 March 2023 , 16:53

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A child sits in a swing in front of an apartment block partially destroyed by shelling, in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

The international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin's amid claims more than 16,000 children have been abducted by troops and deported to Russia.

Ukraine's top presidential advisor for children's rights and rehabilitation, Daria Herasymchuk, said on Tuesday that out of the thousands of children abducted, only 125 had been returned to Ukraine.

Ms Herasymchuk said many children had been sent to new families in Russia, adding that some 456 children had been killed and close to 900 more killed since the war of aggression began almost one year ago.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin tweeted Friday afternoon announcing that in a "historic decision", the international criminal court in The Hague has issued arrest warrants for Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights—Lvova-Belova.

Both warrants were related to the pair's involvement in the "unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children".

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Out of the thousands of children reportedly abducted, only 125 had been returned to Ukraine (Getty Images)

"Over 16,000 incidents of forcible deportation of children are investigated in Ukraine.

"We fear the real numbers may be higher. Russia is literally tearing apart our future. We’ll do our utmost to bring children home & hold every perpetrator of the horrendous crimes accountable," he added.

Allegations of child abductions have been continuous throughout the war in Ukraine.

Following the bloody battles and bombings in Mariupol last summer, there were allegations that more than 1,000 children were taken,

At the war's six-month mark, at least 7,000 children had been abducted and relocated to Russia. This prompted Ms Herasymchuk to create the website called "Children of War".

Some of the children abducted have been used for propaganda and given Russian families and citizenship (Getty Images)

At the time, local Russian governments stated that new children were waiting to "meet their new families".

Thousands of children have been found in basements in cities like Mariupol devastated by the war and at orphanages in the Russian-backed separatist territories of Donbas.

Russia is claiming these children don't have parents or guardians to look after them - or that they can't be reached. However, officials have deported Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories without consent and in some cases lied to them that they weren’t wanted by their parents.

Some have been used for propaganda and given Russian families and citizenship.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been issued with an arrest warrant (Vladimir Gerdo/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

Russia claimed last year that the abduction claims were "voluntary evacuations" of children who were sent from Mariupol to Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo and Altay Krai.

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"More than 1,000 babies from the liberated Mariupol have already found new families in Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo and the Altai Territory.

"More than 300 babies are on temporary maintenance in specialized institutions of the Krasnodar Territory and are looking forward to meeting their new families," one department stated.

Alice Peacock