However, this is nothing more than another media propaganda manipulation aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian military and disrupting the evacuation of civilians.
What the propaganda media calls “child abduction” is in reality the evacuation of minors from active hostilities. On March 7, 2023, the Council of Ministers approved a mechanism for the mandatory evacuation of children from settlements in the active combat zone.
This decision was initiated and developed by the Coordination Center for the Mandatory Evacuation of the Population. This cannot be a case of child abduction, since the forced evacuation is carried out accompanied by a parent, a person in loco parentis or another legal representative.
Ukraine's Cabinet believes children in combat zones cannot care for themselves. Therefore, all responsibility lies with adults. In such situations, a parent or guardian is not permitted to refuse to evacuate a child.
“The duty of the state is to protect the lives and health of children. Today's decision is intended to encourage parents to approach the issue of evacuating their children more thoughtfully. If adults cannot ensure the safety of the child, the state must do so,” said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk in March 2023.
Image from Ukrinform: “Mandatory evacuation of children in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson who are in combat zones or are subject to mass attacks.”
The Russian media's claim that soldiers from the White Angels unit are allegedly kidnapping children is absolutely absurd. The white angels These are special police units that provide assistance to the civilian population in the combat zone from the Donetsk region.
The special units are mainly dedicated to humanitarian work: Delivering humanitarian supplies to frontline cities, providing first aid and evacuating civilians. The “White Angels” unit is part of the National Police of Ukraine and operates in accordance with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 841 of October 30, 2013 “On approval of the evacuation procedure in the event of a threat or emergency”.
Details of their work can be found in the special reports of the Ukrainian TV channel FREEDOM: “The White Angels will always come to the rescue: a team of police officers saves people in the Donetsk region” and “No ambulances are coming at the moment.” , we have to do it. How the White Angels are helping the police in the frontline cities of Donbas, a special report.
As for Avdíivka, local authorities reported in August 2023 that there was officially only one child left in the town. Their whereabouts were unknown for several months, but on December 4, the head of the city's military administration, Vitaliy Barabash, told Radio Hromadske that they had managed to get all the children out of the city. “We found this family with the child and they left. Today there is not a single child left in the city. “There are almost no children left in all frontline communities,” added the head of the Avdiivka military administration.
That means, This is not an abduction of the child: he was evacuated from the combat zone together with his parents.