Two collaborators who contributed to the deportation of children from Mykolaiv Oblast to Russia were informed of suspicion

Child in arms. Photo from open sources

The Security Service collected evidence on two more Ukrainian citizens involved in the deportation of 15 Ukrainian children to Russia.

This is reported by the SSU.

The employees of the special service recorded the forcible transfer across the occupied territory of Ukraine and the subsequent deportation to Russia of 15 pupils of the captured Novopetrivsk special school in the Mykolaiv region. It is clarified that the children were taken out in July 2022.

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Among the suspects in committing the crime is the so-called deputy head of the occupation «department of youth and sports of the Kherson region». His accomplice is the «rector» of an agricultural university in the temporarily occupied territory of the region, appointed by the occupiers.

According to the investigation, 20 armed servicemen of the Russian Federation arrived there to kidnap children from the educational institution.

Then the Russians took the students of the school together with the director of the institution and her husband and forcibly took them to the then-occupied village of Stepanivka in the Kherson region. There, the victims were awaited by two persons involved, who organized the forced transfer of the children and two adults to the local river station. From there, the victims were transported «under the control» of the Russian Federation to the left bank of the region, and then by bus to Crimea. Then the pupils of the Ukrainian school were taken by train to the city of Anapa in the Krasnodar Territory.

According to the investigation, during the stay of the deported children in the Russian Federation, the Russians forbade them to use the Ukrainian language and forced them to sing the Russian national anthem.

Later, with the support of international volunteer organizations, it was possible to take the children to a third country to return them home.

On the basis of the collected evidence, the investigators of the Security Service notified in absentia to both persons involved from the occupation authorities of Russia about the suspicion under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war, committed by a group of persons based on a prior conspiracy).

We will remind that 33 countries have already joined the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.