Ten young men and women aged 18-19 have returned to Ukraine after being evacuated from temporarily occupied territories and the Russian Federation. This was reported by the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets.
This is reported by Finway
International Partners’ Assistance in Saving Youth
According to Lubinets, since March 2026, thanks to cooperation with the Ombudsman’s Office and with the support of the international company MHP and its founder and CEO Yuriy Kosyuk, it has been possible to organize a safe exit for young Ukrainians to territory controlled by Ukraine. The Ombudsman expressed special gratitude to these partners, emphasizing their role in the implementation of the evacuation.
Lubinets noted that even after a long period of occupation, young Ukrainians are eager to pursue education in Ukrainian universities, live in a free society, and develop their careers in their homeland.
Personal Stories and Memory of War Victims
The Ombudsman shared the story of a boy who was only 14 years old at the beginning of the occupation. His sister managed to evacuate and settle in Odesa, while he stayed with his parents, who were caring for their seriously ill grandmother. With each passing year, the boy felt increasingly hopeless and deprived of opportunities for education and development under occupation, so he decided to return to Ukraine. Now he lives in Odesa with his sister.
“His sister managed to leave and settle in Odesa, while he stayed with his parents, who were caring for their seriously ill grandmother. With each passing year, the boy felt more acutely that he could not see his future in occupation. He saw no opportunities for development, education, or freedom. Therefore, he made a difficult but conscious decision to return to Ukraine. Today he is in Odesa with his sister,” he noted.
On June 4, Ukraine honors the memory of children who have become victims of armed aggression by the Russian Federation. This day was established by the Verkhovna Rada in 2021 and coincides with the International Day of Innocent Children – Victims of Aggression, proclaimed by the UN. Memorial events, moments of silence, and remembrance actions, including the nationwide action “Voices of Children,” are held across Ukraine.
According to official data, more than 20,000 Ukrainian children have been in the Russian Federation and in temporarily occupied territories since the beginning of the full-scale war. Earlier, Lubinets suggested that the Russian Federation had illegally taken about 150,000 children from Ukraine, while the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Children’s Rights, Daria Gerasimchuk, mentioned a figure of “several hundred thousand,” including 200,000 to 300,000.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova, suspecting them of war crimes – the forcible deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied territories. In Moscow, these accusations are denied.
Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Children’s Ombudsman, stated in July 2023 that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has allegedly “accepted” about 4.8 million residents of Ukraine, of whom more than 700,000 are children. She claims that most Ukrainian children arrived in the Russian Federation with their parents or relatives.