Four kidnapped Ukrainian children returned by Russia

Russia has said yes to giving back four kids from Ukraine to their families. This happened because of an agreement made by Qatar.

The repatriation is a program that aims to bring back more children who were taken away by Russia after their big invasion last year.

The youngest kid of the four is 2 years old, and the oldest is 17.

Ukraine found out that Russia has taken away 20,000 children from Ukraine.

But it is believed that the actual number of people deported is much greater.

In March, the International Criminal Court declared that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova are wanted for arrest. They have been accused of sending Ukrainian children out of the country without following the law.

Russia said that its reasons were only to help people, and they claimed that they saved lots of Ukrainian kids from harm. Important people in Russia didn’t take the charges against them seriously.

The diplomat, who wanted to keep their identity a secret, explained that the plan Qatar had been working on with Moscow and Kyiv will be put to the test when the four children return.

They said they hope that if the first repatriation is successful, more repatriations will happen.

Qatari Minister Lolwah Al Khater said that they are helping to solve a problem, and the return of some people is just the beginning.

“We are happy that both sides have shown dedication and honesty during this process. We hope that this will result in more efforts to decrease tensions and create trust between the two groups,” she said.

But it has been difficult to bring the children out of Russia. In at least one case, a child had to go back home by going through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

One of the four kids was sent back to Ukraine and reunited with his grandmother. He arrived there on Monday after getting back with his family on Friday.

The other three kids, who were also reunited with their families, will most likely come to Ukraine on Monday or Tuesday.

Thousands of children in Ukraine have been taken away from their families and brought to Russia. The government in Kyiv says that these children face a deliberate attempt to erase their Ukrainian identity.

Sometimes Ukrainian families have had to travel to Russia in difficult and exhausting conditions to bring their children back.