Ukraine returns five children from occupied Crimea and eastern regions

The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) Dmytro Lubinets reported the information.

“We managed to bring back five Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. This happened with the mediation of our consistent partner, the State of Qatar. The return was carried out as part of the implementation of the approved action plan of the President of Ukraine, Bring Kids Back UA," he noted.

According to the Ombudsman, the children are aged from 11 to 16, and they were brought back from the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Among those returned is a 12-year-old girl whose parents are divorced, and her father is in Russian captivity. Over the three years of the full-scale invasion, the girl changed her place of residence twice and had conflicts with her mother. In the past year, her mental and physical health has significantly worsened.

"Fortunately, we helped the grandmother to arrange guardianship over the girl. The child will receive all the necessary assistance moving forward," said the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

Lubinets shared that among the returned children is a boy from the temporarily occupied territories, who had been living with his father but was systematically subjected to abuse by him. Despite the facts of physical violence against the child, the occupation social services were in no hurry to help the child. The mother tried to get the boy out on her own, but her attempts were unsuccessful. Thanks to an appeal to the Ombudsman's Office and the involvement of Qatar, the mother and her son were reunited.

"I will add that the staff of the Ombudsman’s Office, while reviewing appeals for the return of these children to Ukraine, constantly communicated with the applicants and assisted them in obtaining the necessary documents for the return. Moving forward, we will continue to work to bring all deported and forcibly displaced children back home!" emphasized the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

• On March 27, three more Ukrainian children were successfully brought back to the Ukrainian-controlled territory from occupation. Among them is the child of a military serviceman.