The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, reminded on the anniversary of the beginning of deportation of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories by Russia that deportation is a war crime.

"On February 18, 2022, six days before the full-scale invasion, Russia began mass deportation of Ukrainian children. Already by the morning of February 19, more than 2,700 children, mostly children from orphanages and boarding schools, were taken to Russia. Their names, as well as their date and place of birth, were falsified and Russian passports were issued. Some children were later given to foster families or put up for adoption, tearing them away from their native land forever. Russia justifies these actions by 'saving them from danger,' but it was Russia that created this danger," he said on the Telegram channel on Tuesday.

Yermak emphasized that Russia started kidnapping Ukrainian children even before the full-scale invasion, which proves that it was a planned crime to erase the Ukrainian identity of children and forcibly assimilate them.

"The Russian Federation is trying to disguise this crime as an evacuation because of the danger. But the truth is that the danger for our children was created and continues to be created by it itself. Deportation is not an evacuation. This is a war crime and a crime against humanity, for which Russia must be punished," he said.

The head of the presidential office also recalled that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion Ukraine managed to return 1,221 children, but thousands still remain hostages of the Russian Federation.

"We continue to fight for the return of every Ukrainian child kidnapped by Russia. Without exceptions. Without conditions," he emphasized.