ICC issues arrest warrant for Putin over ‘abductions of Ukrainian children’

Russia's invasion, which Moscow calls a "special military operation", has already killed thousands, displaced millions and turned many cities into rubble.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Prosecutor General's Office Board in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. (Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Putin for war crimes because of his alleged involvement in abductions of children from Ukraine.

Although world leaders have been indicted before, it is the first time the ICC has issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.