Russia seeks to modify some legislation to allow adoption of Ukrainian children

     

    Ukrainian Ombudswoman for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova said that the Russian government is changing legislation to allow Russians to adopt Ukrainian children forcibly taken to Russia by military forces.

    In a statement on Facebook, she stated so far, over 121,000 children have been deported" by the Russian government, which is seeking to change legislation to allow the accelerated procedure of adoption of children from Donbas; adding that Ukrainian officials have no information on the children that are allegedly being processed for adoption by Russians.

   "Now the Russians, firing rockets and tanks shells on the homes of Ukrainian citizens, kill parents and kidnap our children in the occupied territories of East and South Ukraine," she said

    The first cases of deportation to Russia were reported at the end of March, when Pyotr Andryuschenko, an assistant to Mariupol's mayor, said that 4,000 to 4,500 Mariupol residents were "forcibly" moved, without their passports, to the Russian city of Taganrog.

    On April 8, The UN stated that of the 1626 Ukrainians officially killed so far, 63 were children.

 However, it believes these figures are far lower than the actual casualty toll. Ukrainian forces have previously accused the Russian military of taking children hostage and using them as human shields.