Russia not allowing any children out of Kherson region through the "green corridor" - Head of Military Administration

THURSDAY, 2 JUNE 2022, 12:21

The occupying forces in Kherson Oblast are not providing a single "green corridor", even for taking children out from the region, says Hennadii Lahuta, head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration.

Source: Hennadii Lahuta in an interview with Radio Svoboda project "Novyny Pryazovia" ["Azov News"]

Quote from Lahuta: "When the occupiers did not provide any humanitarian corridor for taking adults out, we worked hard to evacuate the boarding schools. I know for sure and I can state this with responsibility: not a single child was allowed to be taken out of Kherson Oblast. They didn’t even allow a [humanitarian] corridor for a single kid. 

Details: According to Lahuta, there is information that the situation at Oleshki boarding school is extremely difficult. Children there need special care because they have disabilities.

"(There is some information - ed.) about Kherson boarding schools - Novokakhovka, Kakhovka boarding schools. But [speaking] about evacuating these children (outside the Kherson region) - maybe I just do not know, maybe it happened at night towards Crimea," said the Oblast head who is currently outside the Kherson region.

Lahuta added that attempts to negotiate the evacuation of these children have been unsuccessful so far.

The head of Kherson Oblast Military Administration also said that the occupiers are suggesting to Ukrainians that they travel through occupied Crimea to Russia, Georgia, etc. - "this is the only way out of the Kherson region," but this is illegal.

Previously: On 1 June, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia was taking Ukrainians out of the occupied territories so that they would forget about Ukraine and not be able to return: "[Russia] is forcibly taking out both adults and children."

According to him, more than 200,000 Ukrainian children have already been deported to Russia: orphans from orphanages, children with their parents, and children separated from their families.

On Children's Day, Daria Herasymchuk, the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation, said that Russians have forcibly deported more than 234,000 Ukrainian children to Russia, Belarus or the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts since the start of the war.