Teen abducted from Mariupol by Russia during occupation returns to Ukraine
Photo: Ukraine has returned a teenager who was forcibly taken from Mariupol to Russia during the occupation (Getty Images)
Ukraine has succeeded in bringing back a teenager who was forcibly taken from temporarily occupied Mariupol to Russia. He had been separated from his mother for more than three years, according to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak.
"As part of President Zelenskyy’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative, another Ukrainian teenager has been successfully returned from Russia," Yermak said.
According to him, in 2022, the boy was forcibly taken to Russia, separating him from his mother for over three years. During all this time, his relatives on the Ukrainian side were looking for a way to bring him home. In the Russian school, the boy suffered systemic bullying because of his Ukrainian origin, which seriously affected his psychological well-being.
"Today, he is finally reunited with his mother — safe and free in Ukraine. Grateful to the Ukrainian Child Rights Network for helping rescue this boy. We are carrying out the President’s mission: to bring every Ukrainian child home," the Head of the Presidential Office added.
Deportation of Ukrainian children
According to Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Russia has deported over 19,500 children from Ukraine. More than a thousand of them have been successfully returned home.
The deportation of Ukrainian children was the reason the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.
Additionally, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recently passed, in its first reading, a draft law establishing liability for the illegal transfer and use of children for military purposes by representatives of a foreign state.
