Three Ukrainian children were successfully returned from the temporarily occupied territories
Ukrainian children were brought back home with the assistance of the Ministry of Reintegration and the Ukrainian Child Rights Network after their mother sought help.
“When the Russians entered Kherson, the parents of 10-year-old Oleksandr, 8-year-old Daryna, and 6-year-old Yakov decided to send the children to the village to stay with their grandmother, hoping for more security. Later, the regional center (Kherson – ed.) was liberated, but the grandmother and the grandchildren remained on the temporarily occupied territory,” reported the Ministry of Reintegration of Ukraine.
As Russian forces retreated from Kherson, they destroyed the Antonivskyi Bridge, making it impossible to bring children back. Only through the joint efforts and dedicated work of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, with the support of the Ministry of Reintegration and the State Migration Service, Oleksandr, Daryna, and Yakov were reunited with their parents.
A week prior, another Ukrainian family was reunited. After 19 months of separation, 9-year-old Nadiia and her 14-year-old brother Mykhailo were returned to their parents from the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson region.
Shortly before the full-scale invasion, children went to visit their grandparents. After the Russian forces occupied the village, the road out of it was cut off.
The possibility of returning the children home emerged at the beginning of September 2023, when their father asked the Ministry of Reintegration of Ukraine for help. The ministry, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, organized the evacuation of children from the temporarily occupied territories.
As of October 17, 2023, Russia illegally deported about 19,546 Ukrainian children, informed the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities and organizations managed to return 386 young Ukrainians home.