Ukraine brings back 12 children taken by Russia, Zelenskiy's chief of staff says

4/2/2025 11:17

Ukraine brought home 12 children forcefully taken by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said late on Monday.

Yermak said on his Telegram messaging app, "As part of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back UA, it was possible to return home 12 children who were under the pressure of the Russian occupation."



According to the initiative's statement, the Bring Kids Back UA programme under Zelenskiy is an initiative to return home all children forcefully deported from Ukraine.



Yermak said, among the returned children is a 16-year-old girl who lost her mother, a 17-year-old teenager who was issued a summons to the Russian army, and an eight-year-old girl.



Moscow and Kyiv have carried out several exchanges of children to be reunited with their families since the start of the war that Russia launched with its full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022.



Ukraine says that more than 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians since the war began, calling the abductions a war crime that meets the U.N. treaty definition of genocide.



Russia has said it has been evacuating people voluntarily and to protect vulnerable children from the war zone.