Exclusive-Ukraine brings first charges for deporting Kherson orphans

FILE PHOTO: International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan and Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin speak to journalists as they visit the site of a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in late November, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Vyshhorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, February 28, 2023. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Ukrainian prosecutors on Friday charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes over the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans from the formerly-occupied southern city of Kherson, some of them as young as one.

They are the first suspects to be charged by Ukraine, which says more than 19,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-held territory, officials told Reuters.