Ukraine liberates 23 more children from Russian occupation

Ukraine has liberated 23 more children, including three orphans, from the temporarily occupied parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk oblasts. Ukrainian children were at risk of being deported while under Russian occupation Source: Save Ukraine charity

Details: Oleksandr Prokudin, the Head of Kherson Oblast State Administration, reports that eight of them have been brought back from the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast. The children are now safe and receiving the necessary medical and psychological assistance.

The charity organisation noted that all of the children had gone through severe challenges. In particular, an 18-year-old young man from the town of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia Oblast witnessed the Russians brutally beating his father, a former employee of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

As soon as the young man reached the age of majority, he risked being forcibly drafted into the Russian Armed Forces.

A 7-year-old girl and her mother have been freed and brought to Ukrainian-controlled territory. The mother chose to leave their home to save her daughter from attending classes promoting Russian propaganda. "The woman used to work at a vocational school and refused to cooperate with the invaders several times.

Fearing reprisals, she secretly sheltered orphans in student accommodation to protect them from being abducted by the Russian military," Save Ukraine explained. Teenage sisters aged 15 and 17 have also been brought back to Ukrainian-controlled territory. During the occupation, they lived in constant fear, unable to sleep peacefully due to even the slightest sounds.

The charity reported that the girls endured three nighttime searches of their home by Russian forces and interrogations. Russian forces used the family of the teenagers as a human shield by placing military equipment in their garden. They also seized the family's belongings and threatened to separate the children from their parents.

The sisters lived in constant fear of becoming victims of sexual violence while in the occupied territories. Another teenager who managed to escape the occupation was constantly summoned for interrogation by the officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). He was also detained by the local "police" as he was considered a "criminal" for refusing to obtain a Russian passport.

"The 'encouragement' to study in Russian schools seems particularly cynical. The children told us that the Russians promised to pay 10,000 roubles [roughly US£116] to those who agreed to attend their schools. This was at a time when a janitor began teaching maths and a former grocery store cashier took on the role of English teacher because most teachers refused to cooperate with the occupation authorities," the charity said.

Save Ukraine reported that they have helped 446 Ukrainian children come back from the occupation and the Russian territory.

Background: Earlier, Ukraine liberated 12 children from the temporarily occupied territory, some of whom had been subjected to torture.

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