"At least 20,000 children have already been identified, several dozen more are still waiting to be found and returned. In particular, we must return more than 4,500 children with status [those who have the status of an orphan or a child without parental care]," Deputy Prime Minister – Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk told a briefing on May 31, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.
The government official called on the Russian Federation to provide Ukraine with lists and to return the deported Ukrainian children, and urged the international community to develop an effective mechanism "which must be applied to Russia if it refuses to return us children in the near future."
Vereshchuk noted that the coordination headquarters considers the issue of evacuation of children with status abroad.
"The last figure regarding the evacuation abroad from the zone of active military operations was 600 people. That is, 600 children with status were planned to be evacuated to Austria, Switzerland, Poland, and Turkey," she explained.
At the same time, according to Vereshchuk, state authorities solve the task of returning children with status to Ukraine from abroad and their adaptation.
"We understand that our children with status have the right to be adopted, have the right to be handed over to foster families. This process of return is now also a huge task we face. Because it is not only a matter of taking the children away – they have to be returned and adapted so that children can live on their native land," the Deputy Prime Minister noted.
As reported, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets stated that Russia held more than 27,000 Ukrainian civilians captive in its territory.
