8-year-old boy rescued from occupied Kherson
An eight-year-old boy was returned to government-controlled territory from the occupied part of Kherson Oblast, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin announced on Telegram on June 7.
The child and his parents are now safe, with doctors and psychologists currently working with the family. Volunteers from the Save Ukraine organization facilitated the boy's return.
Since the beginning of the year, 108 children have been returned from the temporarily occupied part of Kherson Oblast, according to the governor.
Abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia
In 2023, the European Parliament reported that the number of Ukrainian children illegally abducted to Russia could reach 300,000. MEPs believe that Russians began taking Ukrainian children in 2014 when they occupied Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
During the fourth meeting of the Peace Formula advisers in Davos on January 14, Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets stated that Ukraine had returned 517 illegally abducted children and 2,828 adults from Russia, including only 150 civilians.
"No one can say for sure how many Ukrainians, including children, adult civilians, and military personnel, are in Russian captivity," President Zelenskyy said on February 26.
As of May 2024, the Ukrainian state platform Children of War reported that at least 19,546 children had been abducted or forcibly displaced by Russia, and 2,015 children are reported missing.
The illegal abduction of children led to the issuance of arrest warrants in March 2023 for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Russian Children's Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
During a visit to Kyiv on February 2, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced that Canada and Ukraine would create a coalition to bring home abducted Ukrainian children.
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