Seven more children left the occupied territories

Another seven children and their families have returned from the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to the controlled territory of Ukraine, said Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, writes radiosvoboda.org.

Illustrative photo

"Some of the families experienced real horrors during the occupation and witnessed how the Russians ransacked the houses of local residents, forced them to take Russian passports, committed violence against Ukrainians, and forced their children to study at school according to the canons of the Russian world." And families with teenage boys left TOT so that their children would not later be taken to the Russian army," the ombudsman wrote on Facebook on April 3.

According to him, representatives of the ombudsman's office, state structures and charitable organizations are currently communicating with the families and providing assistance.

"There is a lot of work ahead: restoration of documents, placement of children in educational institutions and clubs, job searches, etc. Therefore, the path of adaptation should be easier, because specialists will provide the necessary medical, psychological, humanitarian and social assistance, and the relevant state bodies will record from their words the facts of Russian crimes, which they witnessed," Lubinets added.

According to the official data of the Ukrainian authorities, from February 24, 2022, about 20 thousand children were deported from Ukraine to Russia. These are only those cases that have been officially recorded.

Ukrainian human rights defenders insist that there are "hundreds of thousands" of children forcibly displaced from Ukraine. The former Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for children's rights, Mykola Kuleba, stated in February that this figure is true only for children identified by Ukraine.

According to the authorities, as of January 2024, about 500 children have so far managed to return to Ukraine.

Read also on Newsky "Zelensky discussed with the Prime Minister of Japan the state of preparation of the security agreement between the countries" and look at "Boring Pence" YouTube channels.

To always be aware of events, subscribe to TG channel Newsky. We also recommend current discussions of friends of Ukraine in North America on Rashkin Report YouTube channels.