Ukraine managed to return six more children from the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhya and Crimea.
This was reported by Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.
As part of the implementation of the approved action plan of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back UA, 5 families with 6 children were able to leave the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. These are families from the temporarily occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhya Regions and Crimea.
According to Lubinets, the families in the TOT faced psychological pressure, lack of proper medical care and supply of necessary medicines. The occupiers forced adult family members to obtain Russian passports, without which they would not be able to move around the TOT of Ukraine.
‘The children were forced to attend Russian schools, where the educational process was permeated with propaganda of the ‘Russian world’. Without the consent of their parents and the children themselves, they were enrolled in militant organisations. For refusing to study in Russian schools, they threatened to remove the children from the family and take the parents to ‘basements’ under trumped-up articles,’ the Ombudsman said.
The families are currently on the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine.
‘The state is ready to return all its citizens and will provide them with basic humanitarian, medical, psychological and social assistance. And law enforcement agencies will record Russian crimes that Ukrainian children witnessed or became victims of,’ said Dmytro Lubinets.