Reintegration Ministry: 17-year-old girl illegally deported to Russia returns to Ukraine
Myroslava, a 17-year-old girl from Ukraine, returned home after she was illegally deported to Russia a year and a half ago, the Reintegration Ministry reported on April 19.
At least 19,500 children have been confirmed as abducted by Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and less than 400 of them have returned home, according to the Ukrainian government’s database.
Myroslava, who became an orphan in 2014, was forced to move to Russia from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories in 2022 after the start of Russia's full-scale war. She lived in a dorm in Russia, according to the ministry's statement.
Ukraine's Reintegration Ministry said "caring people" informed Ukrainian authorities about Myroslava's location, helping the ministry to bring the girl back in cooperation with the Ukrainian Child Rights Network.
"We were in contact with her all the time," the statement read.
"Four days of hard road, and she is now finally in Ukraine."
The ministry also thanked Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraine's presidential advisor for children's rights, Daria Kasyanova, the head of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the Ukrainian Embassy in Belarus, the Ukrainian Consulate General in Lublin, the Kovel District State Administration, and the State Border Service helping bringing Myroslava back.
Ukrainian children who have been forcibly deported to Russia are subject to systemic re-education efforts by Russian authorities, according to a report published in the Guardian on Feb. 4.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for allegedly overseeing the forced deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia.
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