Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets called on the international community to help Ukraine return children deported by Russia.
He wrote this on his Telegram channel.
“Join the work of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. Help identify their whereabouts. Become intermediary countries,” he emphasized.
According to the ombudsman, the profiles of Ukrainian children forcibly taken from the Kherson orphanage in 2022 are posted on the Russian state adoption portal.
“Most telling: these records contain no references at all to Ukraine or to their true origin. This fact is another confirmation of a deliberate policy to erase the Ukrainian identity of our children and an attempt to “legalize” their abduction. First — forced relocation or deportation. Next — document changes, transfer for adoption, total re-education and militarization. These are not isolated cases, but a systemic practice that has been ongoing since 2014,” Lubinets noted.
As part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, 10 children from the Kherson orphanage have already been returned home. In total, since the start of the full-scale invasion Ukraine has returned 2083 children.
“The international community must act faster and more decisively. Pressure, publicity and consolidated efforts are what truly help return children home. We must unite for the main goal — to bring every Ukrainian child home,” Dmytro Lubinets concluded.
Earlier we wrote that a Russian serviceman is trying in court to adopt a child abducted from the Oleshky boarding school.