UKRAINE, Sep. 10 — The Bring Kids Back UA — the initiative of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — in cooperation with Ukrainian Child Rights Network, returned a 14-year-old girl from occupied territories.

In August 2025, as part of the presidential initiative, Ukraine managed to return 101 children who had been deported, forcibly relocated, or held in the temporarily occupied territory by Russia. A total of 1,600 children have been returned so far.

The girl had not seen her mother for more than 3 years. Ukrainian Child Rights Network planned a safe route and organized departure from the occupation. Now the girl is staying with her mother and receiving all the necessary help.

The Bring Kids Back UA said that the mother of the returned girl went to work in Kyiv and left her daughter with a grandfather in their native town, which Russia occupied during the first days of the Russian invasion.

“The girl’s life turned to constant pressure and fear. At school, she was forced to study the Russian program and repeat propaganda. Russians constantly threatened her grandfather that they would send her to an orphanage if he tried to take her to the controlled territory of Ukraine,” said the organization.

On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an international arrest order for Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights. They are accused of illegal deportation of Ukrainian adults and children from Ukraine to Russia.

As many as 35,000 Ukrainian children are still missing and thought to be held in Russia or Russian-occupied territories, said The Guardian, referring to an American team of experts.

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