Several Ukrainian families, including 14 children, have been evacuated from Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, Presidential Office head, announced on Aug. 29.
The families with children were evacuated from occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts as part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, Yermak said.
The children range in age from 2.5 months old to 16 years old.
Yermak said the families faced threats while living in Russian-occupied territory, such as their homes being searched by the Russian security services, their children being deported to Russia, and being forced to take Russian passports.
The return of Ukrainian children from occupied territories "remains one of the priorities," Yermak said.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Moscow has abducted Ukrainian children from occupied territories and forcibly transfered them within the occupied territories or to Russia itself.
According to the Ukrainian government’s database, Russia has illegally abducted at least 19,500 children since February 2022, and less than 400 have returned home thus far.
Kateryna Hodunova
