ICC Issues Arrest Warrant for Putin Over Mass Deportation of Ukrainian Children

On 17 March 2023 the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights, for the war crimes of unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of children from occupied Ukrainian territory to Russia — the first ICC warrant ever issued against the sitting leader of a permanent UN Security Council member. Thousands of Ukrainian children are documented as having been taken from occupied areas, orphanages, and boarding schools and placed with Russian families or in Russian state institutions, often stripped of their Ukrainian identity documents and citizenship.