Russia's dire threat to Ukrainian families: Citizenship or lose your child
Further shocking reports from regions occupied by Russia. According to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), pathological situations are occurring in maternity wards in the occupied territories. Ukrainian mothers are threatened that if one of the parents does not have Russian citizenship, the child will be taken from them.
5 May 2024 05:36
The war in Ukraine has been ongoing for two years. In this time, much has been revealed about the crimes committed by Russian forces. One such crime was the deportation of Ukrainian children deep into Russia, for which the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.
Although discussion of the issue had quieted down for a few months, today, there is increasing talk about the new crimes of the Russian occupiers.
This time, as reported by the American Institute for the Study of War, in the occupied territories, Russians have announced they will take children from Ukrainian families in maternity wards.
Russians break international law again
The plans of the occupying authorities were made public by Artem Lysogor, the head of the Ukrainian military administration.
In his statement from May 1, he announced that the illegal taking of newborns could occur from May 6. The only thing that can protect the child from being taken away is the Russian citizenship of one of the parents.
If these reports are true, such actions would violate Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which defines genocide as "imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group," ISW concludes.
The forcible taking of children is not the only form of forced deportation into the depths of Russia. This ongoing action is intended to cause chaos at the border with European Union countries. At the same time, young Russians are being moved to the occupied territories to integrate into the Ukrainian educational system.
"The Security Service of Ukraine reported on May 3 that the Russian head of the migration department in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia oblast, Nikolai Opryshko, and his deputy, Konstantin Razygrin, forcibly deported Ukrainian civilians from the occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast to the Rostov oblast in Russia. They then moved them to the border of Russia with Latvia. The SBU stated that these Russian officials forced Ukrainian civilians to walk to the Latvian border checkpoint as "refugees to the European Union," in an attempt to increase migration tension," ISW explains.
