Ukrainian envoy says Belarus complicit in deportation of children

June 2, BPN. The government of Alaksandr Łukašenka is complicit in the deportation of children to Russia, the Ukrainian ambassador has told senators in Poland.

Wasyl Zwarycz said 19,484 children had been transferred from Ukraine to Russia and Belarus.

It is important to return them and also to bring the perpetrators to justice, he said. Ukraine needs help with documenting and publicizing Russia’s and Belarus’ alleged crimes of deportation, he added.

At the same conference in the Senate of Poland, Belarusian opposition politician Pavieł Łatuška said at least 2,150 Ukrainian kids had been transferred to Belarus. Twelve of them are orphans who have been identified, he said.

“The Łukašenka regime is a co-aggressor and must be punished in the same way as Putin,” Łatuška said.

On March 17, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, seeking to bring them to account for alleged deportations of children from Ukraine.