Today, another six Ukrainian children, together with their mothers, have returned from the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and Crimea as part of the President of Ukraine's initiative Bring Kids Back UA.
The children are aged between 3 and 17 years old. During the occupation, the families faced severe hardships. Children were forced to attend Russian schools where a significant portion of the curriculum was filled with propaganda. In case of refusal, families were threatened with the revocation of parental rights, illegal searches, and interrogations. Also, some children with health problems could not receive the necessary medical care and medications.
One family was compelled to hide to prevent their child from being forced to attend a Russian school. They lived in constant fear of being discovered — the consequences could have been the removal of the child from the family or even the illegal arrest of the parents. Despite all the difficulties, the child continued to study online at a Ukrainian school.
We are sincerely grateful to the Office of the Ukrainian Ombudsman for their efforts in bringing these families back home! Now they are safe and receiving the necessary support.