PARENTS hug children brought back to Ukraine after being taken to Russia from territories occupied by Moscow.
Mykola Kuleba, head of the Save Ukraine charity, said: “We are welcoming home 31 more children who have been illegally taken.”
Mr Kuleba praised the “heroic mothers” who retrieved their kids.
Over 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the invasion, Kyiv says.
Russia denies the allegations.
The children had been taken from the pro-Western country’s northeastern region of Kharkiv and the southern region of Kherson, said Save Ukraine, which fights what it says are illegal deportations of Ukrainian children.
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On Friday, the charity said the children and their relatives had crossed the border into Kyiv-controlled territory.
According to footage released Friday, the children, who carried suitcases and bags, crossed the border on foot and later boarded a bus to continue their journey.
One elderly woman who was supposed to bring home two grandchildren had died from “stress”, Kuleba added.
Writing on Facebook, he said the Ukrainian relatives had been subjected to a “13-hour interrogation” by Russia’s FSB security service.
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Last month, the International Criminal Court announced an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.
The Hague-based court also issued a warrant against Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, on similar charges.
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