Russia's children's rights commissioner announced a deal with Ukraine on Wednesday to exchange nearly 50 children displaced by Moscow's invasion, but a Ukrainian official later declined to confirm the agreement. Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Lvova-Belova said that "for the first time in an in-person format, we held talks with the Ukrainian side. 29 children are to go to Ukraine and 19 to Russia”, AFP reports.
Moscow is accused of forcibly taking Ukrainian children to Russian territory during its full-scale offensive, and Lvova-Belova is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges related to these allegations.
But in successive media appearances when Russian and Ukrainian officials met with Qatari mediators in Doha, the Ukrainian parliament's human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubynets told AFP he "could not confirm the information". The Ukrainian official added that the two sides "have no direct communication on this case."
Since July 2023, Qatar has helped return dozens of Ukrainian children taken to Russia and occupied territories during the two-year war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 16 Ukrainian children who accompanied the country's delegation and benefited from a previous exchange were "in Qatar for medical, mental, and social recovery." "All of them were previously forcibly deported to Russia, but thanks to the mediation efforts of friendly Qatar, they have been released," Zelensky added, ignoring Russia's claim that 48 children participated in the exchange, including 19 who will go to Russia.
Ukraine believes Russia has illegally taken more than 19,000 of its children since the invasion began in 2022, of which fewer than 400 have been returned. Moscow denies that accusation, saying it has transferred children for their safety away from combat zones.
The fate of children has been very sensitive in Ukraine since the war began. Some of the children's parents were killed, while others were separated from caregivers because of the rapidly changing front lines at the start of the invasion. Some lived in Ukrainian orphanages in areas then occupied by Russia. Lubynets said his delegation and Qatari mediators had discussed, in addition to the return of the Ukrainian children, the issue of Ukrainian civilians detained in Russia and "the potential role of Qatar to mediate between Ukraine and Russian Federation on this issue".
"Joyful moment"
On a terrace overlooking the sea at the luxury hotel in Doha where the meetings were held, Qatar's Minister of International Cooperation Lolua Al-Kater spoke with the children and their guardians. One, Dmytro Manilov, was reunited with his family in Kiev as part of a Qatari-brokered scheme after his mother, still detained by Russia, was captured as a prisoner of war in Mariupol in 2022. "We were so happy because he was able to return to Ukraine, to his home," Valentina Savina, the 11-year-old's guardian, told AFP through an interpreter. "We are very hopeful that we will soon be able to be reunited with his mother, we remain hopeful," the 35-year-old Savaina added. Al-Kater said the families' visit marked "a very joyful moment for us here in Qatar".
Qatar has led mediation between Israel and Hamas in recent months for a ceasefire and prisoner swap in Gaza and negotiated the exchange of American and Iranian prisoners in September. The Qatari minister said these talks, as with Russia and Ukraine, were "one of the main pillars of our foreign policy" and pointed to a greater role for Doha in discussions between Moscow and Kiev in the future. "When the time comes, we can discuss broader issues," she said, without specifying possible areas for expanded mediation. / BGNES
