“According to official Ukrainian data, more than 20,000 Ukrainian children ended up in Russia and the occupied territories during the war”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“Today (November 26 – ed.) two more Ukrainian girls returned home from the temporarily occupied territories as part of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back UA,” said Yermak.
As the OP manager said, “6-year-old Maria lived with her grandparents in the Donetsk region. After the death of her grandmother, the girl was left only with her grandfather. He was afraid that the occupation authorities would take his grandson away from him, realizing that the only way to save the child is to evacuate to a safe area.”
“From now on, Maria is safe with her mother and younger brother,” Yermak clarified.
It was also possible to return 14-year-old Veronika from the occupation, who after losing her parents was taken to a foster family in the Kherson region.
“In 2022, her village was under occupation. Constant stress and fear had a negative impact on the child’s health, and the lack of stable communication and electricity made the learning process difficult,” said the head of the OP.
According to official Ukrainian data, more than 20,000 Ukrainian children ended up in Russia and the occupied territories during the war. Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, assumed that Russia illegally removed about 150,000 children from Ukraine. Darya Gerasimchuk, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Children’s Rights, calls the number “several hundred thousand children, that is, somewhere between 200-300 thousand.”
As of November 12, Ukraine was able to return 1,002 children from the territory of the Russian Federation and temporarily occupied lands, said Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova. They are suspected of committing war crimes – forcible deportations and displacement of the population, including children, from the occupied territories of Ukraine.