AMSTERDAM/KYIV, -The forcible deportation of Ukrainian children by Moscow is allegedly a war crime, according to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

While presenting the program as a humanitarian effort to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone, Russia has not concealed the fact that it has brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, said the action would result in "historic accountability" and that the deportations represented a "state evil that precisely starts with the top official of this state."

The announcement incited a vehement reaction from Moscow. According to Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, Russia finds the very questions the ICC is asking to be "outrageous and unacceptable," and any decisions made by the court are "null and void" with regard to Russia. Russia is not a member of the ICC, just like the US and China are not.

"Yankees, stay away from Putin!" Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the parliament and a close ally of the president, posted on Telegram.

He declared, "We regard any assaults against the president of the Russian Federation as aggression against our nation.

There is "no doubt," according to the United States, that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine. The court also issued a warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, on the same charges.

Putin, who is only the third president in office for whom the ICC has issued an arrest warrant, is not likely to appear in court any time soon. However, the warrant means that if he visits any ICC member states, he might be detained and extradited to The Hague.

"As a result, Putin is despised. Travelling could result in his arrest. This remains forever. If Russia does not abide by the warrants, sanctions against it will remain in place "said Stephen Rapp, a former general war crimes envoy for the United States.

The news shocked the citizens of the Russian capital, who expressed their shock. Nobody will detain Putin, a man who only identified himself as Daniil, 20, told the media.

We'll defend him, the Russian people, said Maxim.

The announcement of the arrest warrant came ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's anticipated state visit to Moscow the following week, which is likely to forge much closer ties between Russia and China just as relations between Moscow and the West reached a new low.

Before the invasion, Beijing and Moscow formed a "no limits" alliance, and U.S. and European leaders have expressed concern that Beijing might send weapons to Russia.

China has refuted the existence of such a plan and criticized Western weapon deliveries to Ukraine, which will soon include fighter jets after Poland and Slovakia approved the shipments this week. The Kremlin declared that the jets would be destroyed and that the conflict's course would not be altered.

China wants to divert criticism from the West regarding Ukraine, but due to its close ties to Russia and refusal to call Moscow's war an invasion, there is scepticism about the possibility that Beijing will mediate the conflict.

In light of the fact that a ceasefire would not currently result in a just and long-lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia, White House national security spokesman John Kirby stated on Friday that the United States had serious concerns China might try to promote a ceasefire.

Russian attempts to advance through the industrial Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine for the past eight months have been centred on the destroyed city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces have resisted Russian attacks. The eastern part of the city has been taken by Russian forces, but they have so far been unable to encircle it.

According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian military, Russia launched 26 rocket attacks and 19 airstrikes on Friday. The head of the presidential staff for Ukraine, Yermak, posted on Telegram that the city is almost continuously being shelled.

Russia claims it has attacked infrastructure to weaken Ukraine's military and eliminate what it claims is a potential threat to its own security, though it denies intentionally attacking civilians.

Moscow is accused by Ukraine and its allies of starting an indiscriminate war to annexe territory from its pro-Western neighbour.