Ukrainian president sends plane to Georgia to return 10 children of controversial case to homeland

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sent a plane to Georgia to return ten children to Ukraine, whose mother, Ukrainian citizen Yulia Suslyak, was charged in Georgia in April with human trafficking.

Suslyak, who came to Georgia with 10 children from Russia in April 2019, had plans to move to the country’s occupied Abkhazia region, where “her husband, the father of all the ten children, lives.”

The children appeared in hospital shortly after the arrival with food intoxication, when the Georgian police showed an interest in the issue, as four of the 10 children were born in 2017.

The fact sparked suspicion of human trafficking, with Suslyak stating that four were her own and her husband’s biological children, while six others were born via surrogation.

Yulia Suslyak denied the charge, stating that all the children were hers and her husband. 

Experts in Georgia confirmed a couple of days ago that the parents of four children were really Suslyak and her husband, while the father of six others was Suslyak’s husband.

Suslyak’s lawyer told the media that the family has always wanted many children and as Yulia was unable to give birth after her fourth pregnancy they used surrogating to achieve the goal.

The US embassy in Georgia was also involved in the case as one of the 10 children was born in the United States.

The Georgian police also said that Suslyak entered Russia from Ukraine with 11 children, adding that they were looking for the kid.

It has been reported that the child died while in Russia.

The plane from Ukraine brought Ukrainian Presidential Envoy on Children’s Rights Mykola Kuleba in Tbilisi.

He said that the children are in need of long psychological assistance and their health condition also needs to be closely checked.

There was a suspicion that the parents of the children might have aimed to sell them, which created obstacles for the children’s return to Ukraine,” Kuleba said.

He stated that there are several unclear issues in the case which must be studied.

It should be clarified in which conditions the children had to live with their mother and why they had to leave Russia where they were asking for asylum. It should also be clarified whether the couple had their own funds for surrogation. It should be cleared out how the 11th children died in Russia,” Kuleba said.

The children are already in Ukraine and they will be under the care of their grandparents and specialists.