Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinez announced on Telegram on Tuesday that a group of Ukrainian children has been brought back from Russia and Russian-occupied territories to Ukraine.

According to Chief of Staff to the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, the children between 3 months and 18 years old have been returned after years of living under pressure and in fear.

Ad >>>

“For years, they lived under pressure and fear,” Yermak wrote on X.

Among those brought home was a child with a disability and a mother with two sons who were deported to Russia, Yermak said.

Lubinez and Yermak did not say how many people had been brought back in the operation, which involved the human rights commissioner’s office, other state authorities and international partners.

In the past, the return of Ukrainian minors has been arranged internationally. Now, children are often returning to Ukrainian-controlled areas on their own.

Ukrainian sources say more than 19,000 children and young people have been abducted from Russian-occupied territories since the beginning of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

However, during direct talks with Russia in Istanbul, Kiev demanded the return of a list of just 339 minors.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in connection with the alleged deportations, which the Kremlin rejects.