Russia will introduce special social security benefits for children wounded in the war in Ukraine, the state-run TASS news agency reported Wednesday, citing presidential children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
“The president supported this [decision] and now it is being worked out by the corresponding government departments,” the agency quoted Lvova-Belova as saying. “I hope there will soon be a government decree on the mechanism for identifying such children and providing [them with] all the benefits.”
As many as 1,000 children would qualify for the benefits, according to Lvova-Belova, without specifying the requirements.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued arrest warrants for Lvova-Belova and President Vladimir Putin over the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.
Lvova-Belova announced Monday that as many as 380 children from occupied areas of Ukraine have been settled in families across 19 regions of Russia since the start of the invasion.
“Those are the children that have been [living] in social institutions for a long time. None of them were separated from their parents, first of all, and, secondly, if we understand that they have legal guardians, we will immediately do everything to reunite these families,” TASS quoted Lvova-Belova as saying on air in a flagship state television program.
Kyiv estimates that more than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion, with many allegedly placed in orphanages and foster homes.