Yermak: Pupils of Novopetrivka special school deported to Russia return to Ukraine

A group of Ukrainian children and adolescents, pupils of Novopetrivka special school in Mykolaiv region, who were deported to Russia at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, returned to Ukraine as part of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back UA, Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak said in the Telegram channel on Thursday.

"During the occupation of part of Mykolaiv region in 2022, Russian military deported children from Novopetrivka specialized school in Mykolaiv region. Among the abducted children were also orphans and children deprived of parental care. The director of the institution tried her best to protect the girls and boys from the occupiers. She refused to move to the temporarily occupied Crimea and looked for ways for the children to leave for the territory controlled by Ukraine. Upon learning of this, the occupiers came with threats and, accompanied by a special unit of the Russian Guard, forcibly moved the children to the left bank of Kherson region in military vehicles of the Tiger type, and then through the occupied Crimea, and by train to Russia, to Anapa," Yermak said.

He thanked the Ombudsman's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "and all partners who participated in this return."

"The children have come a long way to finally be in Ukraine. In the future, they will face the process of reintegration and education in Ukrainian educational institutions," the President's Office said.

Yermak did not specify the number of returned special school pupils.

As reported, as of October 1, within the framework of the president's initiative Bring Kids Back, Ukraine had returned 1,645 children, after which Yermak reported over 81 more, and Head of Kherson Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Prokudin reported four more, and in addition, a group of children aged 10 to 17, without specifying their number.