Children play on the damaged Russian military machinery displayed during an event to support children, near St. Mykhailivsky Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, 04 June 2023 amid the Russian invasion. Ukrainians mark the 'Day of Remembrance of Children' who died as a result of the armed aggression of Russia against Ukraine. At least 485 Ukrainian children were killed and more than one thousand were injured. In addition, almost 20,000 Ukrainian children were deported to the territory of the Russian Federation in the period from 24 February 2022, according to Kyiv City Military Administration. The event was founded by the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Parliament) in 2021, coinciding with the UN’s International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, annually on June 04. EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKOBy Oleksandr Kozhukhar
"As part of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back UA, it was possible to return home 12 children who were under the pressure of the Russian occupation," Yermak said on his Telegram messaging app.
The Bring Kids Back UA programme under Zelenskiy is an initiative to return home all children forcefully deported from Ukraine, according to the initiative's statement.
Among the returned children is a 16-year-old girl who lost her mother, a 17-year-old teenager who was issued a summons to the Russian army, and an eight-year-old girl, Yermak said.
There was no immediate comment from Russia. The office of Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment outside of business hours.
Moscow and Kyiv have carried out several exchanges of children to be reunited with their families since the start of the war that Russia launched with its full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine says that more than 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians since the war began, calling the abductions a war crime that meets the U.N. treaty definition of genocide.
Russia has said it has been evacuating people voluntarily and to protect vulnerable children from the war zone.
Kyiv has been able so far to bring back 388 children, according to data published by Ukraine's Ministry of Reintegration.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of Russia's commissioner for children Maria Lvova-Belova and President Vladimir Putin related to the abduction of Ukrainian children. Russia denounced the warrants as "outrageous and unacceptable".
(Reporting by Oleksandr Kozhukhar;Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Michael Perry)
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