Ukraine brings back 11 children from Russia and occupied regions

According to him, the return operation was carried out as part of the Ukrainian president’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative.

The Office of the Ombudsman and international partners, including the State of Qatar as a mediator, were involved in the operation.

"The youngest child we are returning is 10 years old, the oldest is 17," Lubinets said.

He also shared several stories about the children who were able to return.

One of them is a 13-year-old girl whose mother was captured by Russian forces and released in April 2023.

During this time, the girl stayed with her grandmother in the temporarily occupied part of Donetsk. She was constantly seeking a way to reunite with her mother.

Photo: 11 more children returned to Ukraine from the temporarily occupied territories and the Russian Federation (t.me/dmytro_lubinetzs)

Photo: 11 more children returned to Ukraine from the temporarily occupied territories and the Russian Federation (t.me/dmytro_lubinetzs)

Photo: 11 more children returned to Ukraine from the temporarily occupied territories and the Russian Federation (t.me/dmytro_lubinetzs)

Photo: 11 more children returned to Ukraine from the temporarily occupied territories and the Russian Federation (t.me/dmytro_lubinetzs)

Thanks to the long-term efforts of human rights defenders and international partners, the family was reunited — it was their first meeting since the start of the full-scale war.

Another example involves five children from one family who were taken to Russia after fighting began in their region.

The parents were deprived of their parental rights, and a guardian took the children out of Ukraine. For a long time, their whereabouts were unknown.

Later, the children themselves contacted their sister who remained in Ukraine and expressed their desire to return. Now the entire family is together.

Ukraine continues to work on returning all children who have been illegally deported or displaced. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, 1,453 children have already returned home from temporarily occupied territories and Russia.

Kidnapping of Ukrainian children by Russia

Since the full-scale invasion began, Russia has been removing Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories. Some of them are being illegally adopted in Russia.

It is worth recalling that the Security Service of Ukraine has identified the circumstances, detailed routes, and all those involved in the deportation of two young children from Ukraine to Russia, as well as the forced relocation of 46 more children to temporarily occupied Crimea.

A resolution condemning the kidnapping and forced displacement of Ukrainian children by the terrorist state Russia was presented in the US Congress.

For more details on how Russia kidnaps and breaks Ukrainian children, read the full report by RBC-Ukraine.