One and a half million Ukrainian children in the occupied territories are under threat of deportation

There are about 1.5 million children in the temporarily occupied territories, all of whom are under the threat of deportation.

This was reported by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets.

He noted that Ukraine has managed to find information about 19,546 Ukrainian children deported by Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

According to Lubinets, the situation with the youngest children is particularly difficult, as they cannot independently report their whereabouts. With the support of international experts, such as the Yale Institute, modern technologies are used to monitor media, social networks and analyze documents of the Russian Federation. This has helped to identify thousands of deported children by establishing their names and dates of birth.

The cases include the deportation of children whose parents are accused of "spying for Ukraine." Children are being forcibly adopted or transferred to Russian families, despite the fact that their birth parents are still alive.

Despite the difficulties, Ukraine continues to fight for the return of every child and calls on the international community to increase pressure on Russia.

"In my opinion, Russia has one single goal - to raise the next generation of Russian soldiers from Ukrainian children who will continue to fight against Ukraine or any other country," said the Ombudsman.

In early December, three children were returned from the temporarily occupied left bank of Kherson region. They were rescued thanks to the mission of the charitable organization Save Ukraine.

Recently, a program for the return and reintegration of children abducted by Russia, including orphans, was presented in Kherson. This program is being implemented as part of the presidential initiative Bring Kids Back UA.

Previously, six children were returned from the occupied part of Kherson region. These are two girls and four boys aged 8 to 16. Among the returnees is a foster family raising a girl deprived of parental care. Her adult brother was evacuated with her.

In early October, four families from Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk oblasts, who had been living under the pressure of Russian occupation, finally broke free. In the TOT, the families were forced to submit to the harsh conditions of the occupiers - to obtain Russian passports, send their children to Russian schools, where they were taught false history and even forced to try on the uniforms of the invaders.

Ірина Глухова