Ukrainian President Zelensky praises ICC arrest warrant for Putin as ‘historic decision’

Describing it as a “historic decision”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has lauded the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) issuance of an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During his televised address on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin was justified, as he is suspected of involvement in the war crime of forcibly deporting minors from Ukraine to Russia, and referred to Putin as a “terrorist.”

Earlier on the same day, the ICC issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, alleging his involvement in the “unlawful deportation of the population (children)” and “unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

Additionally, a warrant was issued for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, who is accused of being involved in planning the abduction of the children.

In a statement, Karim Khan, the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, declared that “hundreds of children taken from orphanages and children’s care homes” in occupied Ukraine had been forcibly deported to Russia since the start of the war.

President Zelensky has praised Khan’s efforts to take action against Putin, while also asserting that there have been “over 16,000 cases of forced deportation” and that the actual number could be “much higher.”

According to the Ukrainian president, the operation would have been impossible to execute without the order coming from Putin.