On May 31, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Andrii Kostin, said that the Russians illegally deported more than 19,400 Ukrainian children.

On the eve of the International Children’s Day, Kostin emphasized that Ukrainian children suffer from war in all its manifestations. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, 483 children have been killed and 989 wounded. These figures do not include those killed and wounded in Mariupol and those still under occupation.

The prosecutors are now investigating 2.9 thousand cases regarding Russian war crimes against children.

‘More than 19,400 children have been illegally deported by Russia. These are only officially registered cases’, the Prosecutor General stated.

Kostin expressed his conviction that ‘the future of Ukraine must necessarily include the return of all our children home’, adding that the role of prosecutors in this battle for the future is to restore justice. After all, sustainable peace for future generations is impossible without justice.

According to him, Ukrainian experts closely cooperate with the International Criminal Court and countries that conduct their own investigations. Ukraine, Europe (Europol) and the USA (FBI) work together to find children and identify all those involved in their abduction.