Ukraine successfully brought back 12 children who had been forcibly taken to Russian-occupied territory, Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak announced late on Feb. 3. The effort was part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, a program under President Volodymyr Zelensky aimed at rescuing Ukrainian children deported by Russia.
Yermak said the children who returned home include a 16-year-old girl who lost her mother, a 17-year-old boy who had been issued a summons to join the Russian army, and an eight-year-old girl.
Since February 2022, at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied territories and sent to other Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine or to Russia itself, according to a Ukrainian national database, "Children of War."
The Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, estimates that Russia has unlawfully deported up to 150,000 Ukrainian children, while the Children’s Ombudswoman, Daria Herasymchuk, puts the figure at 200,000–300,000.
Ukraine considers these abductions a war crime and argues that they meet the U.N.'s legal definition of genocide. Russia often claims it is relocating children to protect them from conflict zones. According to the Ministry of Reintegration, the government has managed to return 388 children so far.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children's Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, citing their involvement in the unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children. Russia dismissed the ICC's decision as "outrageous and unacceptable."
