Ukraine brings back two teen girls after three years in occupied territory
Photo: Ukraine brought two teenage girls back home (t.me/ermaka2022)
Ukraine has managed to return two teenage girls from the territory occupied by Russia as part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, according to the Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak.
The girls lived under occupation for three years. They faced threats, the risk of searches, and were forced to attend Russian schools.
Despite this, the girls preserved their Ukrainian identity, studying online at Ukrainian schools, avoiding imposed Russian patriotic events, and fighting daily for the right to be themselves.
"Now they are safe, reunited with their families, and receiving care and support. I thank the Ukrainian Child Rights Network for assisting in the rescue. We are fulfilling the President’s mission — to bring back every child," Yermak said.
Deportation of Ukrainian children
According to Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, Russia has deported more than 19,500 Ukrainian children since the start of the full-scale war.
More than a thousand children have been successfully returned so far, and the process continues.
The deportation of Ukrainian children was one of the grounds for the International Criminal Court in The Hague to issue arrest warrants for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
In April, Ukraine’s Parliament also passed a draft law establishing responsibility for the illegal transfer and use of children for military purposes by representatives of a foreign state.
