MOSCOW, May 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov has launched a telephone hotline to collect information on cases of child abuse in crisis-hit Ukraine.
“The Hotline on Ukraine is open at the office of the children’s rights ombudsman to receive telephone calls on the situation around children in the armed action zones,” Astakhov said Thursday on Twitter.
Astakhov said he had received many requests from Ukrainian parents to rescue their children after he arranged for the return of an 11-year-old girl from besieged Slaviansk in eastern Ukraine to her home town of Belgorod, Russia.
The Russian ombudsman sent a letter to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon informing him of the situation in southeastern Ukraine where families are being shot as they attempt to leave the crisis-hit region.
In response to growing tensions in Ukraine’s eastern regions, the interim Ukrainian government announced the beginning of a special operation to crack down on the protesters in mid-April. The operation that allowed for the use of military force against civilians led to dozens of deaths and injuries.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said at least 10,000 people have been displaced as a result of the hostilities.
Russia has repeatedly warned Kiev of the grave consequences that a “punitive operation” against its own citizens might have, and called on the UN and other Western partners to take immediate action to stabilize the situation in Ukraine.
