MOSCOW, May 30 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is ready to accept refugee children from the southeastern regions of Ukraine where fighting is ongoing, Russian Child Rights Ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said in a statement Friday.
“We are ready to receive all the children. All border areas – the Belgorod, Voronezh, and Kursk regions – welcome them into their territories. We are also ready to send them to Crimea," Astakhov was quoted as saying in the online statement.
“However, the problem is that these are children from a foreign state, Ukraine, and they can't be taken out of the country illegally. We will be accused of child abduction,” he added.
Russia is working on resolving this legal problem but there is also a serious problem with children from orphanages located in combat areas, the statement said, adding that there were reports that these orphans were short of food and beginning to starve.
“We are looking for acceptable legal ways to help these children get out of the combat zone, rescue them and let them have summer recreation on the territory of Russia,” the ombudsman said.
Astakhov earlier said he had received many requests from Ukrainian parents to rescue their children after he arranged for the return of an 11-year-old girl from besieged Slaviansk in eastern Ukraine to her home town of Belgorod, Russia.
The Russian ombudsman sent a letter to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon informing him of the situation in southeastern Ukraine, where families are being shot as they attempt to leave the crisis-hit region.
In response to growing tensions in Ukraine’s eastern regions, the interim Ukrainian government announced the beginning of a special operation to crack down on the protesters in mid-April. The operation, which allowed the use of military force against civilians, has led to dozens of deaths and injuries.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said at least 10,000 people have been displaced as a result of the hostilities.
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