Ukraine returns 12-year-old boy, his grandmother from occupied Kherson region's east bank

This was reported by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets. 

The Ombudsman said that the boy's older sister had requested the return of her relatives from the occupation. She said that the brother lived with his grandmother because his mother died in the summer of 2022.

The Russians intimidated and psychologically pressured the 12-year-old boy and his grandmother, and the family was visited by representatives of the occupation authorities who threatened to take him to an orphanage because he had no legal guardian.

"On January 1, 2024, they finally returned to the territory controlled by Ukraine. So the first day of the new year symbolically became the first day of a new life for this family. The return was made possible by joint efforts of the Ombudsman's Office and the Ukrainian Child Rights Network," Lubinets summarized. 

• On January 2, a young man who was illegally taken by Russians from the temporarily occupied Mariupol to Moscow was returned to Ukraine.