More children from Ukraine go to Belarus

TALLINN, Estonia — Belarus’ authoritarian president on Thursday attended a government-organized meeting with children brought from Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine, openly defying an international outrage over his country’s involvement in Moscow’s deportation of Ukrainian children.

Speaking at the event marking the arrival of a new group of Ukrainian children ahead of the New Year holiday, President Alexander Lukashenko vowed to “embrace these children, bring them to our home, keep them warm and make their childhood happier.”

Belarusian officials did not say how many Ukrainian children were brought into the country.

A recent study by Yale University has found that more than 2,400 Ukrainian children aged 6-17 have been brought to Belarus from four Ukrainian regions that have been partially occupied by Russian forces.

Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian culture minister turned opposition activist who has presented the ICC with evidence of Lukashenko’s alleged involvement in the unlawful deportation of the children, said the arrival of a new group from Russia-occupied territories “underlines the need for the ICC to investigate those crimes.”

“Lukashenko, his family members and associates together with the Kremlin have organized a system of transfer of Ukrainian children, including orphans, from the occupied territories to Belarus, and this channel is still working,” Latushka told The Associated Press.

In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants for both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-belova, accusing them of the war crimes of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. Moscow has rejected the allegations.