The children’s rights ombudsman of Ukraine demanded Russia send back Ukrainian orphans who cross the border after evacuation from battle zones in the country’s east. The ombudsman accuses Russia of “kidnapping” and violation of children’s rights.
“Ukraine’s ombudsmen requests not to let orphans into Russia, probably thinking they’d be better off bombed,” tweeted Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in response.
There have been repeated reports of the Ukrainian army and national Guards shelling schools, kindergartens and orphanages over the last month.
Valeria Lutkovskaya sent an open letter to the head of Russia’s border guards, Colonel General Vladimir Kulishov, demanding the passage of orphans leaving eastern Ukrainian war zones be prohibited. She also published the letter on her Facebook page.
Lutkovskaya accused Russia of violating the rights of Ukrainian orphan children, who are being admitted to Russia “without proper paperwork.”
The directors of two orphanages refused to let children travel to Russia. They refused to prepare the proper documents.
In case children get to Russia, Lutkovskaya promised to regard the issue as “kidnapping” and would apply to international organizations to have the children returned.
At this point, there is no information on whether the children have started their journey to Russia, or if the buses transporting them have crossed the Russian border.
Ukraine’s heavy artillery shelled Donetsk all night long, the militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic said. “The cannonade continued all through the night until 8 am. The sound of explosions was coming from all parts of Donetsk,” Southeast Front spokesman Konstantin Knyrik told Interfax. “Immediate reports indicate that Grad launchers were used. Reports about casualties are being verified,” Knyrik said.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic announced on Twitter on Saturday, “as a result of the shelling of Maryinka, a suburb of Donetsk, an orphanage was destroyed; information about the victims will be specified”.
Source: RT