Years under pressure and fear: Ukraine returns another group of children from occupation
Photo: Ukraine has brought back another group of children from occupation (Getty Images)
Ukraine has managed to bring back another group of children and young people aged 3 to 18 from the temporarily occupied territories and Russia. This took place within the framework of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, according to Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
"For years, they lived under pressure and fear. The occupiers forced them to attend Russian schools, threatened and humiliated their parents," Yermak said.
According to him, among those rescued was a mother with two sons who had been deported to Russia and stripped of their Ukrainian documents. The family was left without basic living conditions — money, clothing, or food.
They twice tried to return home on their own, and only on the third attempt, with the help of the initiative’s partners, were they able to escape.
Also brought back home was a child with a disability who, for years, had been forced to live in the occupied territory without proper treatment and necessary medicines. Today, the child is safe with their mother and under the care of Ukrainian doctors.
"I thank the team of the Ombudsman’s Office of Ukraine and all international partners for helping to rescue our children. We will continue doing everything possible to bring every Ukrainian child back home," the head of the Presidential Office emphasized.
Deportation of Ukrainian children
According to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Russia has deported more than 19,500 children from Ukraine.
At the same time, more than a thousand Ukrainian children have been successfully brought back home, and the process is ongoing.
The deportation of Ukrainian children was the reason for the International Criminal Court in The Hague to issue arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.
Additionally, in April, the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis a draft law establishing liability for the illegal transfer and use of children for military purposes by representatives of a foreign state.
