Friends, we want to share the latest updates on children’s rights protection. One of the best events in recent weeks is that Save Ukraine with Bring Kids Back UA has returned 11 more children from Russia. The total number of rescued children now exceeds 500, including 115 orphans. I am proud of the tremendous efforts of every team member who works tirelessly to give children in occupation a chance for a happy and free future. The situation regarding children’s rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine remains critical, and we must stay informed to counter the violations of our children’s rights effectively.

🔷 Ukraine has returned nine more children kidnapped by Russia through Qatari mediation. These children were abducted by Russian occupiers and illegally taken to the Russian Federation. They are now receiving rehabilitation assistance and returned to their families.
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🔷 The National Social Service will check all Ukrainian institutions where children live full-time due to possible cases of violence. This decision came after reports of alleged physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of children in a rehabilitation center in Lviv.
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🔷 At the Festival of Thoughts, organized by the charitable foundation East SOS, participants discussed the complex process of returning Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. One participant shared her experience of studying in an occupied school in Donetsk, where she had to attend propaganda lessons promoting the “unity of nations.” This issue affects 1.5 million children living in territories not controlled by Ukraine.
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🔷 Representatives of Save Ukraine participated in a meeting with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan. They discussed crimes against Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories. Save Ukraine has returned around 500 children who were victims of deportation and indoctrination. Our foundation’s Legal Chief, Miroslava Kharchenko, called to add indoctrination to the Rome Statute as a fifth crime.
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🔷 In Luhansk, schoolchildren are being recruited into the Russian army. The occupation authorities have launched a recruitment campaign in temporarily occupied Luhansk, offering high school students the opportunity to join the Russian army after graduation.
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🔷 Motorola, Givi, and Zhoha are the new “heroes” for children in the occupied territories of Donetsk. The Russian occupation authorities are implementing new teaching guidelines for educators, telling children about the heroic deeds of militants from the so-called LPR and DPR. It is a part of aggressive propaganda that distorts Ukrainian history and culture.
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🔷 The forced imposition of Russian passports on residents of the occupied territories is illegal. These documents have no legal validity, the Ministry of Justice emphasized. Meanwhile, Russia demands that young people in the temporarily occupied territories obtain passports by the end of 2024.
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🔷 In schools in temporarily occupied Melitopol, the occupiers continue the militarization of youth. Military barracks for children are created in educational institutions, and militants are involved. It is part of the “I serve my fatherland” militarization program, which the Kremlin actively promotes in the occupied territories.
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🔷 Russian occupiers force Ukrainian children in temporarily occupied Mariupol to manufacture drones for the Russian army. To this end, they opened a specialized aviation engineering class. It is a part of Russian dictator Putin’s “Education” program.
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🔷 Propaganda in kindergartens in occupied Skadovsk. In kindergartens on the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson, mandatory lessons are held in honor of the second anniversary of the so-called “reunification” with Russia. During these lessons, children are taught about the “Russian world” and are instilled with pride in belonging to Russia.
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Each of these facts demonstrates the systematic efforts of the occupiers to indoctrinate and militarize Ukrainian children. Therefore, it is crucial to continue the fight for our children, who are in danger in the occupied territories. Together, we can bring every child home!