The Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko personally met a group of children who had been forcibly taken away from the occupied territories of Ukraine by Russian war criminals.
What is known about Lukashenko's personal participation in the meeting with abducted Ukrainian children
According to the journalists of the publication, the Belarusian dictator is currently openly ignoring the outrage of the international community over his involvement in the abduction and re-education of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories.
During a speech on the occasion of the arrival in Belarus of a new group of children, abducted by Russian war criminals from the occupied territories of Ukraine, Lukashenko cynically stated that he would hug these children and allegedly help them find a new home and make their childhood happy after they were forcibly abducted and separated from their parents.
Belarusian officials did not specify how many Ukrainian children were brought to the country.
A recent study by Yale University found that more than 2,400 Ukrainian children, aged 6 to 17, were taken to Belarus from four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russian troops, the newspaper writes.
What is known about the Russian abduction of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories
On the occasion of Children's Day in 2023, the Online.UA team presented the documentary project Crippled Childhood, which tells the stories of Ukrainian children who were abducted and forcibly deported to Russia.
In the film Crippled Childhood, children and their parents openly share their stories: some of them were captured, some were forcibly taken to a "rehabilitation camp", some were separated from their parents during the so-called filtration measures.
It is important to understand that in more than a year and a half of full-scale war, Ukraine has managed to return less than 400 children. At the same time, Russia claims to have "evacuated" 744,000 Ukrainian children.
