The Ukrainian prosecutor's office, jointly with the International Criminal Court (ICC), continues to investigate the case of the forced deportation of 19,546 Ukrainian children from the territory temporarily occupied by the Russian forces, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin has said on the air of the national telethon on Wednesday.

He emphasized that the prosecutor's office records all the elements of genocide and investigates the facts of the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.

"It was for this crime that a historic arrest warrant was issued for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria] Lvova-Belova in March of this year. This indicates that these crimes were planned and encouraged by the top leadership of the Russian Federation. We continue close daily cooperation with the ICC on this case, as well as on other priority areas," the Prosecutor General said.

He also said that information on the movement and deportation of 19,546 children from territories that were or remain temporarily occupied by the Russian forces is currently being verified in criminal proceedings.

"These are children from 1 to 18 years old. Most of them are from Donetsk region – 13,600 children, as well as from Kherson (1,600), Zaporizhia (1,300), and Luhansk (1,100) regions. However, there are children from Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kyiv regions," Kostin said.

He drew attention to the fact that Russia forcibly removes children under the pretext of "rescue" and "health improvement."

"However, the facts indicate one thing – this is a deliberate policy of destroying the Ukrainian identity of our children. They are subjected to Russian propaganda and militarization, and the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship has been simplified for them," the Prosecutor General said.

Kostin also noted that 386 children have currently been returned thanks to the joint work of the competent authorities of Ukraine and non-governmental organizations.