Qatar has been leading efforts to reunite families split by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine through mediation.
Qatar mediated the release of six Ukrainian children held in Russia on Wednesday as part of its efforts to reunite families separated by the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
The children were all male, aged between six and 17.
The Qatari embassy in Moscow hosted the children and their families during the unification process to ensure their safe return to Ukraine via Minsk, the Gulf country’s Minister of State for International Cooperation at the MOFA Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater detailed.
Expressing her gratitude, Al Khater thanked the Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova and the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets for their efforts in the process.
She emphasised that their recent visit to Doha was instrumental in laying a robust foundation for these successful reunification initiatives.
Reaffirming Doha’s dedication, she highlighted the country’s commitment to safeguarding civilians affected by the conflict and to continuing efforts to reunite separated families.
She also spoke to Doha’s previous hosting of Russian and Ukrainian families in April, wgucg was part of a comprehensive programme providing medical, psychological, and social support to facilitate recovery and integration.
Last month, 20 Ukrainian and Russian families, including 37 children, arrived in Doha as part of Qatar’s ongoing mediation efforts to reunite those separated by the conflict.
Qatar hosted the families from April 18 till April 27, where they received medical and psycho-social support.
Qatar has been leading efforts to reunite families split by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
Ukraine believes Russia has illegally taken around 20,000 Ukranian children and minors since the invasion on February 24, 2022. Kyiv also says of the 20,000, fewer than 400 have been returned. Russia denies those allegations, maintaining it has transferred them for their safety away from warzones.
On October 16, 2023, Qatar secured the first such repatriation of four Ukrainian children from Russia following Kyiv’s request.
Then on November 19, joint mediation by Qatar and the United Nations led to the release of orphaned Ukrainian teenager, Bohdan Yermokhin, from Mariupol, after he was taken to Russia during the war.
Qatar later reunified six additional Ukrainian children with their families on December 5 of the same year.
The Gulf state then mediated the release of 11 Ukrainian children, including ones with disabilities, held in Russia on February 19.
The following month, on March 21, Qatar reunited children with their families and facilitated their safe transfer from Ukraine to Russia via Belarus.
Two years into the war, 3.7 million people in Ukraine are internally displaced and there are over 6.5 million refugees in Europe, according to the UN‘s International Organization for Migration.
Qatar has maintained a balanced foreign policy since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, communicating with both sides while repeatedly calling for the need for dialogue to end the conflict.
In July last year, Doha pledged $100 million in aid to Kyiv during a meeting between Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Sheikh Mohammed’s visit to Ukraine came a month after a stopover in Moscow on June 22, where he met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The Qatari official had called for respecting Ukraine’s territorial dignity and independence, as well as the UN Charter.
In March 2022, Qatar was among 141 countries that voted on a UN resolution demanding Russia’s “immediate and complete” withdrawal from Ukraine.
Qatar, a seasoned mediator, had previously expressed its openness to facilitate dialogue between rivals Russia and Ukraine “if asked” by its international partners.
