Ukraine recovers 11 more children taken to Russia, says presidential chief of staff

Eleven Ukrainian children have been retrieved from Russian-held areas and brought back to government-controlled territory, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Wednesday.

Photo:

X/Dmytro Lubinets

They include two brothers, aged 10 and 12, whose father died under torture for having pro-Ukrainian views, Yermak said in a post on X.

Another returning family is a pregnant mother and her two-year-old, barred from leaving Russian-occupied territory after she refused to accept Russian identity documents. She gave birth after reaching Ukraine.

We facilitated the return of 11 children from the temporarily occupied territories of 🇺🇦 and the territory of Russia. Their age is from 2 to 17 years old. It was carried out as part of the implementation of the @BringKidsBackUA action plan approved by the President of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/Z1kvfk8zM3

— Dmytro Lubinets (@lubinetzs) April 2, 2025

Kyiv accuses Moscow of forcibly deporting or relocating over 19,500 Ukrainian minors into Russia or Russian-occupied territories since the 2022 invasion—a charge it says constitutes genocide under U.N. definitions. The Kremlin denies wrongdoing, arguing it has transferred children only to protect them from active combat zones.

In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges linked to these child abduction allegations. Moscow rejects the court’s authority, and it remains uncertain how or if the warrant might be enforced.

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Source: TVP, Reuters