Ukraine brings 14 more children home from Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast. One of them was being forced onto Russia’s military rolls

On September 29, Ukraine reported the successful repatriation of 14 more children from the Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast, their military administration announced. The children, comprised of four boys and ten girls aged between six and seventeen, join a long-standing mission to recover children from the territory seized by Russia in 2022. Thousands more remain unaccounted for.

According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia has deported close to 20,000 children since its full-scale invasion in 2022. President Zelenskyy asserts the actual number is significantly higher. The children are typically placed in institutions or with Russian families, undergoing Russian-led re-education to strip them of their Ukrainian identity.

The 14 newly returned children include four boys and ten girls. Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the administration, revealed the diverse reasons that led these children to seek repatriation. Among them was a 16-year-old boy being coerced into Russia's military registration rolls, a 17-year-old girl pursuing a Ukrainian education despite the dangers, and a ten-year-old girl who had longed to return home.

These children were rescued through the Bring Kids Back UA program, a repatriation initiative launched by President Zelenskyy in 2023 in collaboration with the Ukrainian charity Save Ukraine. This effort has led to a total of 204 children being returned from the occupied Kherson Oblast since the beginning of 2026.