Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv accuses Moscow of organizing mass illegal adoptions of Ukrainian children

Ukraine’s foreign ministry accused Russia of organizing illegal mass adoptions of Ukrainian children. The ministry claimed Russia was illegally putting the children for adoption after transferring them to Russia from occupied Ukrainian territories.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry issued a statement Tuesday, accusing Russia of organizing illegal mass adoptions of Ukrainian children from occupied territories. The statement cited that 1,000 children from Russian-occupied Mariupol were transferred to different areas of Russia, such as Altai Krai in Siberia, Tyumen, Irkutsk, and Kemerovo.

“The Russian Federation continues to abduct children from the territory of Ukraine and arrange their illegal adoption by Russian citizens,” said the ministry in the statement.

Kyiv cited the information from local authorities in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. Over 300 children are allegedly being detained “in specialized institutions” in Krasnodar.

The ministry went on to accuse Moscow of violating the terms of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which established rules for humanitarian treatments in wartime, as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Several families from the Russian-occupied Mariupol told AFP they were forced to go to Russia to escape the fighting.

Ukraine has long accused Russia of “deporting” Ukrainians since the beginning of the war that is now in its sixth month. Kyiv said Moscow is forcing Ukrainians from occupied territories to go to Russia instead of other regions in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the United States announced a new security aid package to Ukraine of nearly $3 billion as Ukraine marked its Independence Day from Soviet rule Wednesday. President Joe Biden said the latest aid to Ukraine would help the country defend itself against Russia’s invasion in the long term.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the $2.98 billion package would allow Ukraine to acquire air defense systems, artillery systems and ammunition, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars. The latest package would be the single-largest US aid package for Ukraine since the invasion back in February.

“I know this independence day is bittersweet for many Ukrainians as thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian atrocities and attacks,” said Biden in the statement.

“But six months of relentless attacks have only strengthened Ukrainians’ pride in themselves, their country, and in their thirty-one years of independence.”