Eight more children return to Ukrainian-controlled territory

This was reported by Andrii Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, on Telegram, according to Ukrinform.

“As part of the President of Ukraine’s initiative ‘Bring Kids Back UA,’ we managed to bring back eight Ukrainian children, aged from 6 to 16 years old, from temporarily occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Donetsk regions, and Crimea,” he informed.

According to Yermak, seven of the children were helped by Qatar, and one child was evacuated through a humanitarian corridor.

He also noted that among the returned children, some had endured difficult hardships during the occupation. “One girl, with serious neurological conditions, lived with her grandmother in Crimea and did not have access to necessary medical treatment, which worsened her condition. The girl’s mother was abroad and could not take her daughter,” he added.

Yermak also mentioned that another 12-year-old boy, after losing his mother, ended up in an orphanage where he was subjected to propaganda and was planned to be given to a Russian family. However, despite all the hardships, the boy kept in touch with his father, who lives in Kharkiv.

“Now these children have returned to Ukraine, where they are receiving the necessary support from the state and the love of their relatives. The return of these children is a step towards restoring justice and hope,” he emphasized.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, noted that some of the children have health issues, so they were met in Ukraine along with ambulance crews.

He added that among the returned children is a boy who was in the Oleshky orphanage at the time of the Russian invasion, and the occupation authorities had transported the children from there to Skadovsk and then Russia.

As reported, the circumstances of the families and the lack of prospects for a good future prompted the adults who were caring for the children to take decisive actions — returning the children to government-controlled Ukraine.

Lubinets noted that “now these children will finally receive proper medical care, be embraced by their parents and relatives, and pursue their plans.”

He also informed that state bodies and public organizations will assist families in enrolling the children in school, providing psychological and humanitarian aid, and supporting their social integration.

As reported by Ukrinform, on November 16, 15 more Ukrainian children were returned from the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions.