Ukraine, Russia exchange displaced children under Qatar deal

Ukraine and Russia are to exchange 13 children, displaced by Moscow’s invasion, reuniting them with their families following mediation by Qatar, officials in the Gulf state said Thursday.

Russia has been accused of forcibly deporting thousands of Ukrainian children from schools, hospitals and orphanages in parts of the country controlled by its forces.

The “family reunification process involves the safe reunification of nine minors and one adult with their families in Ukraine,” a Qatari official said.

“It will also include the reunification of four minors with their families in Russia.”

The nine Ukrainian children, aged between 12 and 17, with one 19-year-old sibling accompanying them, include a child who lost his one remaining parent following the invasion and others who were staying with relatives when they were separated from their family.

Also among the Ukrainian minors are two teenagers with cerebral palsy, one of whom was placed in a children’s home before the war. Both are accompanied by medical teams for their return.

The Russian children, aged between two and seven, include two who were in care centers before the war started, while the other two had been staying with relatives.

Qatari representatives will host the children at the embassy in Moscow before they are reunited with their families in Ukraine or elsewhere in Russia.

Ukraine has said some 20,000 children were taken to Russia following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.

Ukraine says the invading forces took them illegally to Russia, and accuses the Russian authorities of trying to wipe out their Ukrainian identity.

Teenagers that returned to Ukraine have said they were subjected to Russian patriotic education and made to praise the Russian army.

Moscow has denied forcibly taking children to Russia, saying that minors were moved for their own safety if they were without parental care.

The exchange is the latest in a series of family reunifications brokered by Qatar that has seen scores of children returned to Ukraine and Russia following visits by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani to Kyiv and Moscow last year.

“Qatar remains committed to its efforts to support the reunification of separated families and to ensure the safety, welfare and the reunification of children with their families,” the Qatari official said.