Ukraine returns three more children from occupied Kherson region

Ukraine returned three more children from the occupied Kherson region to its controlled territory.

Ukraine's Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories said when the Russian forces entered Kherson, the southern Ukrainian city on the Dnipro River, the parents of 10-year-old Oleksandr, 8-year-old Daryna, and 6-year-old Yakov decided to send the children to their grandmother in the village to the left bank of the river, hoping for greater safety, Rubryka reports.

In November 2022, Kherson and the right bank were liberated, and the grandmother and grandchildren remained in the occupied territory. When the Russian troops were retreating from Kherson, they blew up the Antonivka bridge, making it impossible to take the children back.

"Thanks to the efforts of the Ukrainian Network for Children's Rights and the assistance of the Ministry of Reintegration, the children are reunited with their parents. Special thanks go to the State Migration Service," the ministry said.

Another family was reunited last week after 19 months of separation. 9-year-old Nadiika and her 14-year-old brother Mykhailo returned from the occupied territory to their parents.

After negotiations mediated by Qatar, Russia also agreed to return four abducted children to Ukraine.

The Save Ukraine team could also remove another 19 Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories within the twelfth rescue mission.

Abduction of Ukrainian children

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Russia has been abducting and deporting Ukrainian children en masse from the occupied Ukrainian territories. They are taken to occupied Crimea, Russia, or Belarus for the alleged "rehabilitation" or recreation in camps.

In the case of the deportation of Ukrainian children, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.

In June, Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska reported that Russia had abducted about 19,500 children from Ukraine. Their return is difficult and long, as the Russians refuse to ease the process. So far, Ukraine has managed to bring back 386 children.

Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights, reported that the Russian Federation had already adopted 386 Ukrainian children who were illegally taken out of the temporarily occupied territories by the Russian occupiers.