The Power Within: The Kyiv Independent’s first-ever magazine. Be among the first to get it.

pre-order now
Skip to content
Ukrainian family waiting for train in station, Ukrainian war concept. Photo for illustrative purposes (Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Myroslava, a 17-year-old girl from Ukraine, returned home after she was illegally deported to Russia a year and a half ago, the Reintegration Ministry reported on April 19.

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 returned home, according to the Ukrainian government’s database.

Myroslava, who became an orphan in 2014, was forced to move to Russia from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories in 2022 after the start of Russia's full-scale war. She lived in a dorm in Russia, according to the ministry's statement.

Ukraine's Reintegration Ministry said "caring people" informed Ukrainian authorities about Myroslava's location, helping the ministry to bring the girl back in cooperation with the Ukrainian Child Rights Network.

"We were in contact with her all the time," the statement read.

"Four days of hard road, and she is now finally in Ukraine."

The ministry also thanked Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraine's presidential advisor for children's rights, Daria Kasyanova, the head of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the Ukrainian Embassy in Belarus, the Ukrainian Consulate General in Lublin, the Kovel District State Administration, and the State Border Service helping bringing Myroslava back.

Ukrainian children who have been forcibly deported to Russia are subject to systemic re-education efforts by Russian authorities, according to a report published in the Guardian on Feb. 4.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for allegedly overseeing the forced deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia.

‘Why does everyone have 2 legs but me?’ Children learn to live with prosthetics after being injured by Russia’s war
Eleven-year-old Oleksandr Reshetniak from Kharkiv Oblast still vividly remembers holding the stump of his torn-off leg, trying to stop the bleeding. On Jan. 17, Oleksandr and his 13-year-old cousin Alina were heading to a grocery store in his native village of Malyi Burluk, near Kupiansk, in the ea…

News Feed

5:15 PM

Alexander Vindman: Trump repeats past US mistakes with Russia.

Alexander Vindman served as the director of European affairs for the United States National Security Council in 2018-2020, during U.S. President Donald Trump's first administration. The Kyiv Independent's Kate Tsurkan sits down with Vindman to discuss how Washington has historically misjudged Russia, "succumbing to hopes and fears," and why there is no real prospect of peace between Ukraine and Russia now.
12:24 PM

Ukraine receives $400 million tranche from IMF.

The funds represent the latest tranche of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, which will provide Kyiv with $15.6 billion in budget support over four years. With the additional $400 million in funding, the program has now distributed $10.1 billion in financing to Ukraine.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.