Ten more Ukrainian children, who were living in temporarily occupied territories, have been returned home. They and their families resided in the Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, according to the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Lubynets.
According to Lubynets, they are now in Ukraine-controlled territory and are "recovering from the horrors inflicted by the occupation authorities."
"The scale of forced mobilization is shocking - according to the returnees, without a Russian passport, you can't take any action or receive medical care. The children witnessed baseless searches of their homes by Russians," he informs.
The Human Rights Commissioner mentioned that the mother of one of the boys said they had to live in a house damaged by a Russian shell.
"The 'new authorities' forced children to attend Russian schools and sing the anthem of the country that brought devastation, fear, and chaos every Monday. Fortunately, some managed to receive online Ukrainian education, but parents were threatened that in such cases, their children would be taken away," Lubynets said.
He added that families decided to leave everything behind to save their children's lives and future.
"Those who returned have already visited our Child Rights Protection Center. A competent multifunctional team spoke with them, documenting the crimes they witnessed or were victims of," the ombudsman said.
Ukraine continues to bring children home
In April, Qatar helped Ukraine return four groups of children home.
Recently, Ukraine also returned 13 more children and their families from territories temporarily occupied by Russia.
Just the day before, Ukraine returned another six children from Russian-occupied territories, three of whom are half-orphans.
A few weeks earlier, Ukraine had returned three more children from Russian-occupied territories, one of whom is an orphan.