Ukraine returned two brothers — 13-year-old Kyrylo and 4-year-old Serhiy — from the temporarily occupied territories.
Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets writes about this.
The mother of the boys appealed to the Ombudsmanʼs Office personally to help her take the children to the controlled territory of Ukraine.
After returning, the children visited the Center for the Protection of Childrenʼs Rights. Kyrylo drew the flag of Ukraine on the blackboard and said that he loves his country very much, as Lubinets added.
- On September 13, three children were returned to the territory controlled by Ukraine — before that they were in Russia or in the temporarily occupied territories. The day before, Ukraine returned another 13 children from the occupied territories.
- According to the state portal Children of War, as of September 13, Ukraine was able to officially confirm the deportation of 19 546 children, and 386 were returned.
- The childrenʼs ombudsman of Ukraine Daria Herasimchuk stated that since part of the territory of Ukraine is under occupation and the authorities do not have access there, it may be several hundred thousand kidnapped children.
- On March 17, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and the childrenʼs ombudsman of the Russian Federation Lvova-Belova. They are suspected of illegally deporting children from the occupied regions of Ukraine to Russia.
- On April 27, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution in which the deportation of Ukrainian children was called genocide.