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Charity Says 31 Ukrainian Children Return Home After Being Illegally Taken To Russia

A boy is reunited with his relatives after an earlier repatriation of Ukrainian children organized by the Save Ukraine charity last month.

The Save Ukraine charity said that 31 children illegally taken to Russia following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine have been returned to their homeland.

“Children kidnapped by the Russians from the Kherson and Kharkiv regions have finally crossed the border with their relatives and now are safe. After a long separation of several months, they will meet their families,” the organization said.

The group, which according to its website provides “evacuation, humanitarian aid, and housing to families and children in war zones,” posted a video of what it said showed the children returning to Ukraine.

“Ahead, the children and parents will face psychological and physical recovery. And we will continue to care for them until the families are home,” it said.

Mykola Kuleba, the head of the Save Ukraine charity, wrote on Twitter that “the path of Ukrainian children from the territory of the Russian Federation is always difficult. Unforeseen circumstances can arise at any moment on the way, which complicate the rescue. But we don't give up halfway, because we do it for the sake of our children.”

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague last month issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Moscow’s commissioner for children's rights, on war crimes charges related to the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children, along with the unlawful transfer of people to Russia from Ukraine since it invaded in February last year.

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The Kremlin's alleged deportation of thousands of children from Ukraine to Russia or areas occupied by Russian forces was a major topic at the recent UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

Moscow has said the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia was a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the war zone.

But the Council was skeptical on April 4 when it demanded that Russia provide access to and information about Ukrainian children and other civilians forcibly transferred to territory under its control.