Parents who refuse to evacuate children from frontline regions may be held criminally liable - Interior Ministry
Parents who refuse to leave the frontline territories with their children may in some cases be held criminally liable, for example, when it comes to leaving a child in danger.
According to Censor.NET, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Kateryna Pavlichenko said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
"If parents or other adults refuse to be evacuated, police officers are forced to take certain legal measures. It is worth emphasising here that the priority is the safety of children, not the punishment of parents. However, sometimes administrative reports are drawn up against parents for failing to fulfil their child-raising responsibilities," Pavlichenko said.
She noted that in some cases, these adults already face criminal liability - when it comes to, for example, leaving a child in danger, etc.
The Deputy Minister stressed that the issue of evacuating children from the frontline regions is a very acute and painful humanitarian challenge faced by both Ukraine in general and the police in particular.
"This is a need at a time when active hostilities are taking place. Police officers risk their own lives to go to these regions and evacuate civilians, especially children and the elderly. We are conducting a large-scale awareness-raising campaign in this regard, but there are cases when adults, including parents with children, actually refuse to evacuate," she said.
