GREAT NEWS!
Another child was returned from temporarily occupied territory. Thanks to the Ministry of Reintegration and the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, a girl was returned from the occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region.
According to the ministry, in December 2023, a woman named Maria turned to the Ministry of Reintegration. She asked for help in returning her young daughter from the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia region.
“When the full-scale war started, the girl was staying with her grandparents there. They could not leave immediately because her grandmother was seriously ill. There was no way to transport her. It was also risky for the parents to take the girl alone.
When her grandmother passed away, Maria asked for help. And after almost two years apart, the family was reunited. The return took place within the framework of the “Way Home” project.”
The Ministry of Reintegration thanked everyone who was involved in this case.
“Special thanks to our partner, the Ukrainian Child Rights Network. Thanks to the joint efforts of this project, 56 children have already been returned,” the ministry added.
MORE NEWS:
Last weekend, the “Save Ukraine” team helped three families with four underage children leave the occupation. In total, “Save Ukraine” has managed to return 239 Ukrainian children.
Mykola Kuleba, CEO of “Save Ukraine,” stated:
“Three families with 4 minor children from the occupied territory were rescued by our team last weekend”.
Mykola Kuleba shared the stories of the families. The names of the characters in the story have been changed for security reasons
Milana and Zhenia’s parents lost their business because they did not want to take Russian passports, register the store according to Russian law and pay taxes. The children and their mother were forced to stay in the basement almost all day long because the Russians were constantly shelling their village with mortars. And when there were explosions, Milana would turn up the cartoons to avoid hearing the sounds.
Not far from the town where Anzhela and her mother lived, there was a Russian air defense system, and several times the occupiers shot down UAVs right over their house. The Russians also often launched small drones with parachutes, which flew a short distance and self-destructed. They exploded right over people’s heads. The occupiers said that it was the Armed Forces of Ukraine that were shooting at people. The occupation authorities forced Maryna to send Angela to a Russian school three times. But her daughter refused every time.
Arsen’s older brother serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so the Russians often came to his parents’ house with searches. The first search was the worst, when their yard was surrounded by Tigers and URALs, and a sniper sat in front of the house and aimed at the window. Dad was interrogated for several hours, forced to take off his clothes and show if he had any tattoos. Alyona’s mother packed her bags twice to leave the occupation, but she was very afraid that her older son would be turned back at the filtration center and her younger son would be taken away. So as soon as she learned about Save Ukraine’s activities, she immediately contacted our team.
“It took us a few days to settle all the issues and help the families leave the occupation. Now everyone is safe. When the families recover a bit from their experiences, they will immediately begin to rebuild their lives - they have plans.”