Twelve Ukrainian children have been returned from Russian-occupied territories, Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said on 3 February.
Among those rescued are children who endured unbearable trials, Yermak wrote. In particular: a 16-year-old girl who lost her mother due to occupational medical negligence, a 17-year-old who received a Russian military draft notice, children subjected to Russification attempts through "educational camps," and an eight-year-old girl whom they tried to take from her father for refusing Russian citizenship.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children have left their homes. Some lost parents to shelling or combat deaths. Others had to leave occupied territories.
According to Bring Kids Back data, 19,546 children were illegally taken from Ukraine since the war began. At least 2,442 of them were taken to Belarus. These numbers represent only officially documented cases. Russia claims the number is 700,000 children.
Ukrainian authorities have secured the return of 1,037 children. Nearly 600 of them returned in 2024.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova on 17 March 2023, for the illegal deportation of children from occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia.
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