Ukraine returns 7 children abducted by Russia — Melania Trump helped

Children aged 8 to 16 saw their families, and one of them will soon celebrate his 17th birthday with his family, said Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights.

The occupation "services" were already preparing documents to send him to a boarding school, but thanks to our efforts, he was returned to his biological mother.

Dmytro Lubinets

Ombudsman of Ukraine

Two twin brothers have been reunited with their aunt in Ukraine. Their mother died in Russia, where the children were forced to stay due to the war. After her death, the boys were taken to a Russian boarding school.

A boy who left for Europe with his father and ended up in Russia with relatives also returned to his native land. And a girl from the Kharkiv region who survived injuries, the loss of her father, and the threat of "adoption" into a Russian family.

Lubinets thanked, in particular, Melania Trump, who recently announced their return, for her assistance in repatriating the children.

This happened thanks to the active efforts of the Ombudsman's Office team, within the framework of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back Ua. I also want to thank the First Lady of the United States Melania Trump for her humanitarian support of Ukraine's initiatives on the issue of the return of children and I hope for further mediation activities, which have already shown their effectiveness.

The Ombudsman noted that the process of returning children is always "complex, multi-stage, and often unpredictable."

We spent a lot of time and effort to get these seven children home again. The Ombudsman's Office team worked out the details every day, looking for funding opportunities, organizing logistics, providing legal support, and monitoring every step around the clock.

To learn more about Russia's abduction of Ukrainian children, watch the documentary "Damaged Childhood," created by Ukrainian independent media and video production company Online.UA: