Russia denies the kidnapping of 20,000 Ukrainian children

The spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova rejected the statements that 20,000 Ukrainian children were kidnapped by Russia, describing the accusations as false and politically motivated.

Speaking to a briefing print on Wednesday, Zakharova said that the children were evacuated from areas of conflict to safe places and that Moscow made efforts to bring them together with their families.

“As we can see, there are no 20,000 children kidnapped in reality.

“Ukraine has not only failed, but has not even tried to demonstrate this data with the documents.

“He did not provide specific facts, lists of children or data from parents or legal representatives who were looking for them,” he said.

Zakharova has accused the Ukrainian government of managing numbers and not having undertaken any action over the years to confirm the statements.

“Why has nothing been done from the KIV regime in recent years? Why were they all lies,” he said.

He added that Russia was “saving children by bringing them out of the bombing areas in safe places” and described the effort as “highly successful”.

Ria/nan