Qatar helping four Ukrainian children go home from Russia to Ukraine
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/qatar-return-three-ukrainian-children-russia-after-repatriation-talks-2023-10-16/
Qatar helping four Ukrainian children go home from Russia to Ukraine
By Andrew Mills
October 16, 20237:33 AM PDTUpdated a day ago
DOHA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Qatar is helping four Ukrainian children return home from Russia this week under a mechanism Doha has set up with cooperation from both sides, and hopes to help bring more home in the future, a Qatari official told Reuters on Monday.
A seven-year-old boy returned to Ukraine on Monday via Estonia after he was reunited with his grandmother in Qatar's Moscow embassy last week, the official said.
A two-year-old boy was handed over to Qatari diplomats in Moscow on Monday, and a nine-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl are due to be handed over this week, the official said.
Kyiv says about 20,000 children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia or Russian-held territory without the consent of family or guardians. It calls this a war crime that meets the U.N. treaty definition of genocide.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in March for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lvova-Belova, accusing them of the war crime of illegally deporting children from Ukraine.
Lvova-Belova, who denies the war crime allegations against her, told reporters in Moscow that the indictments were based on "a massive campaign of disinformation (that) has been launched by the Kyiv regime".
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