Since 2014, Ukraine has lost half of its child population due to invasion and occupation. This was stated on Monday, April 21, in an interview with the project “Radio Liberty Crimea. Realities” by the head of the charitable organization “Save Ukraine” Mykola Kuleba.
“Over 11 years, Ukraine has lost half of its child population. Of these, 20% remained first in Donbas and Crimea, then plus new territories – this is almost 1.6 million children that we lost due to occupation. This is 20% of the child population – right there. The other 30% – all over the world, almost 30%, somewhere 25%, a little more. Therefore, almost half of the child population is gone,” he emphasized.
According to Kuleba, this is exactly what Putin wanted to achieve – to devastate Ukrainian territories.
Earlier, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, suggested that Russia had illegally taken about 150,000 children out of Ukraine. However, officials believe that the real figure may be higher.
As of February 26, Ukraine was able to return 1,227 children from the Russian Federation and temporarily occupied territories.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Ombudsman for Children, Maria Lvova-Belova. They are suspected of committing war crimes – forcible deportations and displacement of the population, including children, from the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Olena Rasenko,
“Correspondent”
