Another 24 children who were deported to Russia from the Kherson region were returned to Ukraine, the head of the region Oleksandr Prokudin said.
He met with the children in Kherson, a city that was under Russian occupation for nine months (from March to November 2022).
"This is one of the most difficult rescue missions. The Russians interrogated the children's parents for 13 hours, and later forced them to participate in a propaganda report. But the most important thing is that now the children are at home with their relatives," said Prokudin.
In March, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and child rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. The ICC suspects them of organizing illegal deportations of Ukrainian children to the territory of Russia.
The ICC decision stated that the international court has sufficient grounds to believe that Putin is personally responsible for these crimes both as a direct participant in them and as a leader whose subordinates, with his connivance or approval, committed these crimes.
Russia rejects accusations of deportation of children and calls their transfer to Russian territory a help to children affected by the war.
