The Ukrainian side has not received information that could indicate that Russia is starting the process of returning Ukrainian children from the list that Ukraine handed over to the Russian Federation in Istanbul, which includes 339 children abducted by the occupiers. This was announced by the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets during a press conference on Wednesday, as reported by the UNN correspondent.
Regarding the list of 339. Several bodies developed this list. It was officially handed over in Istanbul. The first reaction is another attempt to promote Russian propaganda, claiming that no children were deported, this was a statement by the head of the Russian delegation... We are waiting for the response from the Russian side. This is the first list, it is definitely not the last one
He noted that this list includes various categories of children.
"I hope that the Russian Federation will start returning Ukrainian children not only from this list, but also all those whom the Russians have abducted since 2014," Lubinets stated.
The Ombudsman also stated that communication with the Russian Federation takes place through intermediaries.
We have not received information that could indicate that Russia is starting the process of returning Ukrainian children from this list. I am not saying that communication is not happening, it usually happens on a daily basis, and not only regarding this list. But we are waiting for an official reaction from the Russian side that they are ready to return children without any conditions. Not to exchange, but (to return - ed.)
In addition, the Ombudsman noted that children from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine are more often returned.
"The Russian Federation is more willing to return children from temporarily occupied territories, but there are still not enough of them. That is, there are many more requests. As for returning from the territory of Russia, this is an extremely difficult, complex procedure. As a rule, Ukrainian authorities, perhaps public organizations, tried to return this child, we see how the Russians block the return, because they clearly understand that every returned child is a potential child who can testify about what happened to them, what methods of influence were used against them... To date, we have returned 68 extremely difficult cases through Qatar," Lubinets said.
He reported that 1378 children had been returned to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion as of June 26, 2025. In total, there is information about more than 19,500 children abducted by Russia.
Addition
The Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul handed over to the Russian Federation a list of 339 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. The Russian side published a list of 339 Ukrainian children who were allegedly "rescued" from the combat zone. At the same time, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation at the negotiations in Istanbul, denied the facts of child abduction, accusing the Ukrainian authorities of a "show for Europeans".