Belarus actually admitted the deportation of Ukrainian children and that the process is being carried out with the support and consent of self-proclaimed President Alexander Lukashenko.

The human rights group ZMINA reports this concerning an interview in the Belarusian pro-government publication BELTA with a local “public figure” and “motivational coach” Alexei Talai.

The man spoke about “helping” children from Donbas. The mechanism was carefully thought out so that children from the affected regions could improve their health in Belarusian camps and sanatoriums.

Talai said that he had received “a storm of messages from the so-called parents of Donbas”: “They invited me to visit them and told me their horror stories with tears in their eyes. But before drawing any final conclusions, it was important to see everything with my own eyes,” he said.

The “public figure” then voiced the Russian narrative that Ukraine has allegedly been shelling Donbas since 2014, despite the Minsk agreements.

Talai also said that the assisting mechanism was discussed with Lukashenko, who agreed to the possibility of “accepting Ukrainian children in Belarusian camps”.

Human rights activists have already documented that the occupation authorities of the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia planned to take more than a thousand children and adolescents to the Dubrava children’s health camp in the Soligorsk district of Minsk region (Republic of Belarus). As of the end of April, 350 children from the occupied territories were already in Belarus for “rehabilitation.”

Talai also noted in his interview that his foundation is working on organizing the placement of children with the support of Belaruskali and the Union State.

In an interview with the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty, Belarusian diplomat and leader of the People’s Anti-Crisis Management (PAM) Pavel Latushko noted that children who come to Belarus from the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories are minors, aged 6 to 15, often orphans who have lost their breadwinners.

In this case, only the authorized body for the citizenship of these children has the right to release them, and Ukraine is such a body, Latushko said. He added that the Fourth Geneva Convention could have been violated in this situation, as Ukraine did not consent to the children’s deportation.

Or, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court may also have been violated, which states that the illegal deportation of children in times of war is a crime.

Latushko said that the People’s Anti-Crisis Management (PAM) is collecting documents that show the involvement of representatives of the Lukashenko regime in the deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine.

See also

  • Monument to children killed as a result of Russian aggression unveiled in Kharkiv. The memorial features sculptures of a boy and a girl. Their figures rise above a granite block symbolizing an explosion. The children are depicted as angels with burnt wings.
  • Russia deported 561 Ukrainian children from Kharkiv region. Along with children, there are about 1,007 cases of forced deportation of civilians. Within the criminal proceedings, all of them are registered as missing persons.