The Hauge: In relation to the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans from the formerly-occupied southern city of Kherson, some of whom were as young as one, Ukrainian prosecutors on Friday charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes.
They are the first suspects to face charges by Ukraine, which claims that more than 19,000 kids have been forcibly moved to Russia or territory under Russian control, according to officials who spoke to Reuters.
The charges levied by Ukrainian prosecutors come after a more extensive investigation conducted in conjunction with the International Criminal Court, which has its chief prosecutor visit the Kherson Children's Home.

The charges were brought on Friday in Ukraine, a pre-trial stage where prosecutors decide there is enough proof to suspect someone of committing a crime.

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Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, and Maria Lvova-Belova, the country's commissioner for children's rights, are accused of the war crime of forcibly removing hundreds of children from orphanages and children's homes in Russian-occupied Ukraine. The ICC, the world's permanent war crimes tribunal, issued an arrest warrant for them in March.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin once more rejected claims that it had violated the rights of children in Ukraine, claiming that instead its armed forces were saving children from dangerous situations.

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48 orphans allegedly disappeared from the Kherson Regional Children's Home in September and October and were relocated to Moscow and the Russian-occupied Crimea, according to prosecution documents obtained by Reuters.

According to the document obtained by Reuters, if this is proven to have violated the 1949 Geneva Conventions' laws and customs of war, it could result in a sentence of up to 12 years in prison under Ukrainian law.
The orphans, who range in age from one to four, are currently unidentified, according to the prosecution.
"It was a multi-day occasion. Yuliia Usenko, head of the department for the protection of children's interests in the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's office, told Reuters that 48 children who were housed in the Kherson Region Children's Home were forcibly relocated and deported. We have no idea how these kids are doing, how they are being cared for, or what will become of them.
She speculated that they might have been brought to Russian institutions or illegally adopted by Russian citizens.

The names of the suspects, who according to prosecutors are either in the occupied Crimea or Russia, are redacted from the public documents. Trials can be held in absentia in Ukraine, unlike at the ICC.

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On October 21, 2022, the majority of the orphans were abducted under the supervision of the principal Russian suspect. The charges claimed that they were transported to Russian-occupied Crimea by being loaded onto white Russian Ministry of Health vehicles.

Usenko claimed that the action taken against the initial three suspects on Friday was just the start. "We want to make war criminals and those responsible for other heinous crimes against our Ukrainian children accountable."
A video allegedly shows one of the suspects helping to load the kids onto a bus with the words "Children" on it, according to Ukrainian prosecutors.