KYIV: Kyiv accused Moscow on Tuesday of having organized illegal mass adoptions of Ukrainian children after transferring them from occupied territories to Russia.
Since the beginning of the war, Kyiv has been accusing Moscow of “deporting” Ukrainians, saying Ukrainians from occupied territories have been forced to go to Russia rather than other regions of Ukraine.
“The Russian Federation continues to abduct children from the territory of Ukraine and arrange their illegal adoption by Russian citizens,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Over 1,000 children from Mariupol,” a southern Ukrainian city occupied by Russian troops, “were illegally transferred to outsiders in Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, and Altai Krai” (in Siberia), the statement read, referring to different areas of Russia.
The foreign ministry said it had based its findings on information from local authorities in Krasnodar, a southern Russian city near Ukraine.
More than 300 Ukrainian children are “held in specialized institutions” in the Krasnodar region, according to the statement.
The ministry accused Russia of actions that “grossly violate the 1949 Geneva Convention” that establishes rules for humanitarian treatments in wartime and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It called for “all Ukrainian children, who were illegally displaced to the territory of Russia, (to) be returned to their parents or legal guardians.”
Several families from Mariupol told AFP that they had been forced to go to Russia to flee the fighting.
Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Sea of Azov, was surrounded in the early days of the invasion.
Russia fully seized the city after weeks of siege and intense shelling that left around 20,000 dead, according to Ukrainian estimates.
Kyiv accuses Moscow of illegal adoptions of Ukrainian children
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Kyiv accuses Moscow of illegal adoptions of Ukrainian children
- "The Russian Federation continues to abduct children from the territory of Ukraine and arrange their illegal adoption by Russian citizens," Ukraine's foreign ministry said
- More than 300 Ukrainian children are "held in specialised institutions" in the Krasnodar region
Indonesia reaffirms Yemen’s territorial integrity, backs stability efforts amid tensions
- Statement comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a UAE weapons shipment at Yemeni port city
- Jakarta last week said it ‘appreciates’ Riyadh ‘working together’ with Yemen to restore stability
JAKARTA: Indonesia has called for respect for Yemen’s territorial integrity and commended efforts to maintain stability in the region, a day after Saudi Arabia bombed a weapons shipment from the UAE at a Yemeni port city that Riyadh said was intended for separatist forces.
Saudi Arabia carried out a “limited airstrike” at Yemen’s port city of Al-Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, following the arrival of an Emirati shipment that came amid heightened tensions linked to advances by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates further efforts by concerned parties to maintain stability and security,” particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahara.
“Indonesia reaffirms the importance of peaceful settlement through an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue under the coordination of the United Nations and respecting Yemen’s legitimate government and territorial integrity,” Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry said.
The latest statement comes after Jakarta said last week that it “appreciates the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as other relevant countries, working together with Yemeni stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.”
Saudi Arabia leads the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE and was established in 2015 to combat the Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen.
Riyadh has been calling on the STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels, to withdraw after it launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops last month, seeking an independent state in the south.
Indonesia has also urged for “all parties to exercise restraint and avoid unilateral action that could impact security conditions,” and has previously said that the rising tensions in Yemen could “further deteriorate the security situation and exacerbate the suffering” of the Yemeni people.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are its main trade and investment partners in the Middle East.
