Ukraine “still awaiting” from UN lists of children deported by Russia - Ombudsman

Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said he is still waiting for an official response from the special representative of the UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflicts, Virginia Gamba, regarding the lists of Ukrainian children who have been taken out of Ukraine by Russia.

The Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada reported this as he spoke on the air of the national telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"As of today, I am awaiting an official response. We hope that such lists will be sent to us so we are waiting for them. I hope that the UN will at least try to do this (get these lists from the Russian side - ed.)," he said.

According to the official, previously the Russians repeatedly reported the number of more than 700,000 deported Ukrainian children. The ombudsman noted that in this situation, it is absolutely logical for the Ukrainian authorities to receive through an international institution, namely the UN, the lists of the children who have been taken away by the Russians.

Answering a question about how realistic the figure announced by the Russian Federation regarding more than 700,000 deported Ukrainian children could be, Lubinets opined that this figure could be realistic, but he still believes that the Russians are exaggerating it.

The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the Ukrainian authorities have no access to the temporarily occupied territories and do not know exactly how many children currently live in the temporarily occupied territory and how many have left.

Answering the question of the need to involve third countries in the process of returning Ukrainian children, he said that the Ukrainian authorities always employ different platforms and scenarios in order to bring all citizens of Ukraine home.

The ombudsman noted that he currently does not see that any of the mediators seeking to help Ukraine have seen a signal from the Russians that they are ready to accept them.

"The problem with all of them is the same - (the question of whether there is - ed.) willingness on the part of the Russians to hand back Ukrainian children, citizens of Ukraine through various communication channels. If they don’t do it through the UN, we don’t currently see any great desire to transfer them through other channels," said Lubinets.

The Commissioner for Human Rights said he could not reveal the details, but the Ukrainian authorities are working to return both prisoners of war and children to Ukraine. "It's worse with civilians, but we're working on it," he assured.

As reported, on July 31, Lubinets said he turned to Gamba with a request to receive from the Russian side the lists of deported Ukrainian children and hand those lists to Ukraine.