Ukraine returns another group of children illegally taken by Russia - Presidential Office

"As part of the initiative of the President of Ukraine (Volodymyr Zelenskyy – ed.) Bring Kids Back UA, another group of teenagers, was rescued from the temporarily occupied territories. These children became targets of Russian special services due to their refusal to comply with the rules imposed by the Russian forces," Yermak noted.

According to him, they were persecuted, searched, interrogated, and tortured. One of the boys was subjected to pressure simply because he did not want to study in a Russian school.

Also, one of the teenagers became a target of the occupiers because his father and brother are Ukrainian military servicemen, as a result of which the occupiers conducted searches at the boy's home, interrogated him, and threatened him.

The youngest of those rescued is only three years old. She was bullied for speaking the Ukrainian language, because of which she began to stutter and now needs help from specialists.

"Now all these children are safe. I am grateful to the Save Ukraine team for their professional work and help in rescuing the children. We are fulfilling the task of the president – to return all the children," he added.

Abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has taken Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories. Some of them are illegally adopted in Russia.

Thus, employees of the SBU and prosecutors established the circumstances, detailed route, and all those involved in the deportation of two young children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation, as well as the forced transfer of another 46 children to temporarily occupied Crimea.

In addition, a resolution was recently presented in the US Congress condemning the abduction and forced relocation of Ukrainian children by the terrorist state of the Russian Federation.

More details about how Russia steals and breaks Ukrainian children–read in the material of RBC-Ukraine.