Ukraine brings back 1,029 children from Russia, says Ombudsman
- 7 December, 10:14
Kyiv has successfully brought back 1,029 Ukrainian children deported by Russia since Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
"The Ukrainian team, alongside international partners in the Bring Back UA initiative, has returned 1,029 children, which is the latest figure," Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Saturday. The children were returned with the mediation of Qatar.
Lubinets emphasized that the main challenge lies in verification, as Russia continues to withhold information about the children. "We are utilizing all available mechanisms to gather data on their whereabouts, recover their documents, and then share this with our partners, who communicate with Russia. We then coordinate the logistics to bring the children home," he stated.
According to Ukrainian media reports, as of November 20, Russia has unlawfully taken or forcibly relocated 19,546 Ukrainian children since the onset of its full-scale invasion. Nine more Ukrainian children departed by Russia were brought back to Ukraine in September with Qatar’s mediation. Overall, a few hundred children have been returned to Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian Commissioner for Children's Right over the deportation of Ukrainian children. Kremlin has repeatedly rejected allegation of deportations, claiming that children were evacuated from the combat zones.
