160+ Ukrainian children allegedly taken to Russia found in Germany

Ukrainian National Police Chief Ivan Vyhivskyi announced Wednesday that over 160 Ukrainian children, previously suspected of being unlawfully taken to Russia amid the Ukraine war, were found in Germany.

“Thanks to our cooperation with the German law enforcement agencies … the location of 161 Ukrainian children in Germany has been established,” Vyhivskyi said in a statement.

In December 2023, Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova said as quoted by Sputnik that all unaccompanied minors from Ukraine had been reunited with their parents, eliminating their presence on Russian territory.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated in June 2023 that since the commencement of the Ukraine war in February 2022, Russia had welcomed over 5 million Ukrainian residents, including more than 700,000 children. The majority of Ukrainian minors arrived with their families, while only 2,000 were evacuated from orphanages in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

It is noteworthy that on March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, on the grounds of alleged “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia.

At the time, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeatedly stated that Russia is not a party to the ICC and its jurisdiction is not recognized by Moscow, therefore, any of its decisions against the country are null from the legal point of view.

Since its inception, the ICC has always been biased as far as the investigation of crimes and the prosecution of individuals is concerned.

The West has orchestrated wars all across the Global South that have caused millions of children to go hungry, malnourished, displaced, and even killed, including in Gaza.

Yet, these issues have never been taken into consideration at the Hague-based ICC.