1378 deported children returned to Ukraine - Lubinets
Kyiv • UNN
Thanks to the Bring Kids Back UA fund, 1378 Ukrainian children deported by Russians have been returned home. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported that up to 1.5 million children in the temporarily occupied territories remain at risk of deportation.
Within the framework of the Bring Kids Back UA fund created in Ukraine by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 1378 children deported by Russians to the aggressor state's territory have been successfully returned home. However, up to 1.5 million children in temporarily occupied territories remain at risk of deportation, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announced during a press conference, as reported by a correspondent of UNN.
A special presidential plan for the return of children, Bring Kids Back UA, has been created in Ukraine, under which 1378 Ukrainian children have been successfully returned. Our international partners, such as Qatar, a country that is the main mediator for negotiations and the physical return of Ukrainian children from other countries and the Russian Federation, are participating in this. 42 countries that are official members of the coalition are participating, as are non-governmental organizations, both international and Ukrainian. And many different Ukrainian government bodies are participating.
Details
According to him, after returning, children are interviewed at the child protection center and communicate with psychologists.
After returning, children officially undergo an interview procedure at our child protection center, where they are currently located. First of all, psychologists work with the children in the presence of parents, guardians, or relatives to understand the child's psychological state. Then, a multidisciplinary team, consisting of representatives of various government bodies, the Ministry of Social Protection, and law enforcement officers, gets involved. If the child is ready to report facts of criminal offenses committed against them, we also record this, and transfer this data to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Security Service of Ukraine.
Lubinets noted that the scale of deportation of Ukrainian children is enormous. Approximately 1.5 million children in the temporarily occupied territories are at risk of deportation.
We understand that the scale of deportation of Ukrainian children is simply enormous. According to our information, approximately one and a half million Ukrainian children are potentially at risk of deportation or forced displacement in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. No one knows how many of them have actually been deported, as we cannot obtain official information from the Russian Federation or the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
The human rights activist added that they want to make a new generation of Russian military out of Ukrainian children.
We clearly see the main goal of the deportation of Ukrainian children – it is their use as a new generation of Russian soldiers. Children's documents are changed, all of them: birth certificates, education documents. They are forced to use only the Russian language. They are forced to identify themselves as "Russians." All children are automatically enrolled in Russian youth organizations like "Yunarmia."
Addition
Earlier, Lubinets stated that the Russian Federation is conducting a discrediting campaign against Ukrainian authorities. Representatives of the aggressor state call relatives of prisoners and claim that our state does not want to take their relatives back.