Governor: 4 children brought back from Russian-occupied territory

Four more children were brought back home from Russian-occupied territory in Kherson Oblast, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on April 4.

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 been returned home, according to the Children of War database.

The four children returned included a 14-year-old girl with a disability, and three boys, one aged 12 and two 15-year-olds.

Prokudin said that the children were forced to attend Russian school, and their parents were made to obtain Russian passports.

The teenage boys were required to enter their names in the military register so they could be potentially drafted in the future.

Since the beginning of 2024, 52 children have been brought back from Russian-occupied territory in Kherson Oblast, Prokudin said.

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The Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko