Ukraine returns six more children from occupied territories
Photo: Ukraine returns six more children from the occupied territories (t.me/ermaka2022)
Ukraine has managed to return six children from temporarily occupied territories. Among them is a 16-year-old boy whose father died after being brutally tortured by Russian troops, 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, we were able to return six more Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories,” Yermak stated.
According to him, among those returned is a 16-year-old boy whose father died as a result of severe torture by Russian soldiers.
Two sisters were also rescued. They had faced the threat of removal from their family. At school, they were being prepared for service in the Russian army, and the Russians had threatened to take them from their grandmother and place them in a Russian foster family.
Another girl had been constantly harassed by Russian soldiers who repeatedly raided her home, conducted searches, and threatened her with weapons.
“They are all now safe, with their families, on Ukrainian-controlled territory. I’m grateful to the Save Ukraine team for helping organize this rescue mission and for their dedication to the fight for Ukrainian children. We are fulfilling the President’s mission to bring every child home,” the head of the Presidential Office added.
Deportation of Ukrainian children
According to Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has deported over 19,500 children from Ukraine. More than a thousand of them have been brought back home.
The deportation of Ukrainian children was the key reason the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.
