On the eve of St. Nicholas Day, 7 Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia or the occupied territories returned home.
Points of attention
- Melania Trump played a key role in returning 7 abducted Ukrainian children from TOT and Russia to reunite with their families.
- The Ombudsman's Office team and the presidential initiative Bring Kids Back Ua were instrumental in facilitating the repatriation process.
- The return of the children involved a complex and multi-stage process, showcasing the dedication and effort put forth by Ukrainian authorities.
Ukraine returns 7 children abducted by Russia — Melania Trump helped
Children aged 8 to 16 saw their families, and one of them will soon celebrate his 17th birthday with his family, said Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights.
According to the ombudsman, one teenager from the Kherson region was supposed to stay with his grandmother "for a few weeks," but spent years in the temporarily occupied territory.
The occupation "services" were already preparing documents to send him to a boarding school, but thanks to our efforts, he was returned to his biological mother.
Dmytro Lubinets
Ombudsman of Ukraine
Two twin brothers have been reunited with their aunt in Ukraine. Their mother died in Russia, where the children were forced to stay due to the war. After her death, the boys were taken to a Russian boarding school.
A boy who left for Europe with his father and ended up in Russia with relatives also returned to his native land. And a girl from the Kharkiv region who survived injuries, the loss of her father, and the threat of "adoption" into a Russian family.
Lubinets thanked, in particular, Melania Trump, who recently announced their return, for her assistance in repatriating the children.
This happened thanks to the active efforts of the Ombudsman's Office team, within the framework of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back Ua. I also want to thank the First Lady of the United States Melania Trump for her humanitarian support of Ukraine's initiatives on the issue of the return of children and I hope for further mediation activities, which have already shown their effectiveness.
The Ombudsman noted that the process of returning children is always "complex, multi-stage, and often unpredictable."
We spent a lot of time and effort to get these seven children home again. The Ombudsman's Office team worked out the details every day, looking for funding opportunities, organizing logistics, providing legal support, and monitoring every step around the clock.
To learn more about Russia's abduction of Ukrainian children, watch the documentary "Damaged Childhood," created by Ukrainian independent media and video production company Online.UA:
