Ukraine is working to return another group of deported children - Lubinets
Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets expressed hope for the return of deported Ukrainian children and stressed that work is underway to return another group.
He said this at a briefing during a joint monitoring visit of the Ombudsmen of Ukraine and Romania to the Chernivtsi region, answering a question from an Ukrinform correspondent.
"Regarding the return of children. Do I expect that by the first of June we will return the next group of Ukrainian children from Russian deportation? I do not just expect this, we are working on it with the team every day. But I can't tell you whether it will be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, or on the first of June or the first of July. But I will say frankly that the Ukrainian authorities are doing everything in our power to make sure that this happens every day," Lubinets said.
He noted that as of today, according to official data, 19546 Ukrainian children who were deported by the Russian Federation or forcibly displaced within the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine have been confirmed.
"We returned the last group of 13 children a little over a week ago with the help of Qatar's mediation. As of now, the children are undergoing psychological rehabilitation and social support, which we are carrying out together with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)," Lubinets added.
Romanian Ombudsman Renata Weber, who was present at the briefing, noted that her country supports the return of deported children to Ukraine as soon as possible at the international level.
As reported, the 11-year-old son of a female soldier was returned from the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region.