Russian Children’s Commissioner Rejects ICC War Crime Allegations as False

Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, April 4, 2023. (Reuters)
Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, April 4, 2023. (Reuters)
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Russian Children’s Commissioner Rejects ICC War Crime Allegations as False

Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, April 4, 2023. (Reuters)
Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, April 4, 2023. (Reuters)

Russia's commissioner for children's rights, who was accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) alongside President Vladimir Putin of war crimes in Ukraine, said on Tuesday that the ICC's allegations were false and unclear.

The Hague-based ICC on March 17 issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children's rights, for the war crime of unlawfully deporting children from areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.

The ICC said it had information that hundreds of children had been taken from orphanages and children's care homes in areas of Ukraine claimed by Russia. Some of those children, the ICC said, have been given up for adoption in Russia.

Lvova-Belova told a news conference in Moscow that the consent of children's parents was always sought and that the commission always acted in the best interests of the child.

If there were any specific problems with specific families, she said she was ready to help solve them.

"It is unclear to the presidential commissioner for children's rights what the International Criminal Court's allegations specifically consist of and what they are based on," her commission said in a separate statement about its work released before the news conference.

"The use of the formulation 'unlawful deportation of population (children)' in the ICC's official statement causes bewilderment," it said.

It said it had also not received any documents about the case from the ICC, whose jurisdiction Russia does not recognize.

The Commission said Donetsk and Luhansk, two Ukrainian regions claimed and partially controlled by Russia, had asked Russia to accept civilians, including orphans and children whose parents were missing.

The Kremlin has said the ICC arrest warrant is an outrageously partisan decision, but meaningless with respect to Russia. Russian officials deny war crimes in Ukraine and say the West has ignored what it says are Ukrainian war crimes.

Putin allies have cast the ICC, which countries including Russia, China and the United States do not recognize, as a "legal nonentity" that had never done anything significant.



Sumy City Under Threat as Russian Forces Advance, Ukraine Says 

A fragment of a rocket is seen following a Russian strike on Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP) 
A fragment of a rocket is seen following a Russian strike on Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP) 
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Sumy City Under Threat as Russian Forces Advance, Ukraine Says 

A fragment of a rocket is seen following a Russian strike on Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP) 
A fragment of a rocket is seen following a Russian strike on Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP) 

Russian forces have widened the frontline in Ukraine's northern region of Sumy, officials and analysts said, and Moscow said it captured another village on Tuesday, bringing the region's capital closer to within the range of frontline drones.

The advance towards the city of Sumy - the administrative center of the Sumy region - comes as Kyiv showed its ability to continue fighting by conducting a series of strikes in recent days, hitting Russian strategic bombers and the Crimean Bridge.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Türkiye for peace talks on Monday where Moscow said it would only agree to end the war if Kyiv cedes big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army.

On Tuesday, Russia's defense ministry said its forces took control of Andriivka, after capturing several other villages in recent days. Kyiv said Russian artillery attack on the city of Sumy killed four people and injured 28.

The head of the military administration of the Sumy region, which lies north of Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the region's defense strategy.

"The situation in the border area of Sumy region remains complex, dynamic, but controllable," the head of the military administration, Oleh Hryhorov, said on Facebook.

"The Russian army is constantly shelling border villages, hitting residential buildings, farms, and civilian infrastructure facilities."

The dual advance with fierce frontline fighting and missile and drone strikes in Sumy hinders Ukraine's defense abilities along in the southeast Donbas region, of which Moscow is seeking full control, military analysts say.

On Monday, Ivan Shevtsov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian brigades fighting in Sumy, told Ukrainian national broadcaster that Russian forces had captured about 15 km (9 miles) along the frontline, going 6-7 km deep.

If Russian advances take the town of Yunakivka, Shevtsov said, the city of Sumy will be under a direct threat.

The Ukrainian Deep State blog of analysts who track the front line using open sources said Russian forces are moving to within 20-25 km of Sumy, putting the city within a range of shorter-range attack drones.

Reuters could not independently verify the Russian claim of capturing Andriivka and Ukraine's General Staff made no references to the village in its evening battlefield report. DeepState said early on Wednesday that Andriivka was now in Russian hands.

Over the weekend, Sumy's authorities ordered mandatory evacuation of 11 additional villages due to escalating Russian attacks.

Shevtsov said Russia wants to completely capture the Sumy region, not just make a small incursion.

"Just ... like other regions in eastern Ukraine," he added.