On Sunday, June 2, five Ukrainian orphans, who were illegally deported from Ukraine by Russians back in 2022, returned to the Mykolaiv region, according to the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration Vitalii Kim.
Russia abducts Ukrainian children
“Today (June 2 - Ed.) we met in Mykolaiv five pupils of the Novopetrivsk Special School who survived the horrors of deportation by the Russians in 2022,” the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration emphasizes.
He says that in March 2022, the institution was under Russian occupation. In July 2022, Russian military personnel forcibly took children and staff to the Kherson region, and from there to the Russian Krasnodar region.
“In November of the same year, the children and their accompanying persons were returned from Russia to Georgia,” the official says.
A happy moment for children and adults (photo: facebook.com/VitaliiKimODA)
He adds that the Department of Education and the Children's Service of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration took measures to find close relatives and place them in families.
The children are happy to be back in Ukraine (photo: facebook.com/VitaliiKimODA)
4 children will go to new families, and a 17-year-old girl will start studying at a vocational lyceum in September.
Children and adults celebrate a reunion in their native land (photo: facebook.com/VitaliiKimODA)
“I thank everyone who helped bring the boys and girls home. I thank everyone who was looking for a new family for them. Special thanks and respect to the legal guardians who took responsibility for them. It is incredibly brave and important. We will continue to support our children,” Kim summarizes.
Vitalii Kim's post (screenshot: facebook.com/VitaliiKimODA)
Read also about a Ukrainian woman from Azovstal who returned from Russian captivity and saw her son for the first time in more than two years.