MOSCOW, July 29 (RIA Novosti) – Twelve Russian children have been evacuated from eastern Ukraine since the start of military conflict between pro-Kiev forces and independence supporters, press-office of Russia's children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said Tuesday.
"Thanks to the joint efforts of the ombudsman and consular missions’ staff, 12 Russian children and several seriously ill Ukrainian kids have been evacuated from the combat zones since the start of the armed conflict. We are ready to continue our efforts as 1,220 orphans remain in Luhansk and Donetsk regions. We are ready to accommodate them, but any our attempts to evacuate them are met with accusations of international child abduction," the press service said following Astakhov’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov noted that it’s very hard to take orphans out of the war zones, because there are no relevant consents from those officials who are responsible for them.
Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to help in evacuating children, who require urgent medical assistance, from violence-hit eastern Ukraine.
Moscow has described the ongoing military action as a punitive operation and has repeatedly called on Kiev to put an immediate end to the bloodshed. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has also urged the international community to intervene and investigate the crimes against humanity that have occurred in Ukraine in recent months.
According to the latest UN report, the conflict has claimed the lives of 1,129 civilians since mid-April, and 3,442 civilians were injured.
