This is on the media's midweek podcast.

I'm Brooke Gladstone.

In March, the International Criminal Court took the first step toward holding Vladimir

Putin accountable for some of the atrocities committed by his special operation in Ukraine.

Well, there's an arrest warrant on his head.

In a statement, the court held Putin directly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation

and the transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

It's the first warrant to be levied against Putin in the course of this invasion.

Moscow has denied the accusations calling the arrest warrant meaningless,

that the ICC president says the allegations are credible.

The ICC is doing its part of work.

As a court of law, the judges issued the arrest warrants.

The execution depends on international cooperation.

Researchers at Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab have been unearthing direct evidence of

these alleged war crimes for months now in partnership with the U.S. State Department.

In February, they released a report that offered evidence of more than 40 child custody

centers for Ukrainian children who have been deported to Russia.

In February, Deborah Amos, a veteran Middle East correspondent, reported this story for

NPR about the Russian kidnapping of Ukrainian children.

Devon, I will be hosting this week's big show together and we'll be going deep into the complexities

of international justice. But for now, for some essential context courtesy of NPR,

here's that piece, Deb reported.

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