12 Ukrainian children returned from occupied eastern and southern parts of Ukraine

This was reported by Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets.

“The children and their families lived in temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. Fortunately, they are now in Ukrainian-controlled territory. Each family faced the chaos caused by the occupation ‘authorities’ in their own way,” Lubinets wrote on Telegram.

The families reported being forced to obtain Russian passports, as without them, they could not access social guarantees or medical care. Doctors even refuse to treat children with birth defects needing specialized attention. Instead, parents are often offered “rehabilitation,” which frequently amounts to deportation or forced displacement.

According to Lubinets, some children had to attend Russian schools, which actively campaigned for the “Russian world.”

“According to the returnees, Russians in the occupied territories detain, beat, and torture adults with electricity, exert psychological pressure, and interrogate children without their parents present, often using torture methods. They also frequently conduct unwarranted searches of local residents' homes,” the statement said.

The Commissioner for Human Rights was particularly moved by the story of a returned boy who left the occupied territories with the aspiration of becoming a Ukrainian rescuer and studying at his dream university.

The Commissioner noted that the sense of disenfranchisement, limitations, and bleak future prospects for children were key reasons why families chose to move to Ukrainian-controlled territory.

“The families have already visited our Child Protection Center. They were interviewed by a competent multifunctional team that recorded the crimes they witnessed or were victims of,” he said.

• Earlier, Lubinets said that Ukraine had returned 758 children from the temporarily occupied territories and Russia, including those deported by Russia since 2014.