The Office of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights verified the presence of more than 14,000 Ukrainian children on the territory of the Russian Federation, but their total number may be much more, said Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.

"We have data that there are more than 14,000 Ukrainian children in Russia. These are the ones that have been verified. In fact, I assume there may be more than 150,000 such children," Lubinets said in an interview with Suspilne.

According to him, the Russian side does not provide information about the deported Ukrainian children and does not allow the Ukrainian side to return them. Also, according to the Lubinets, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation Tatiana Moskalkova informed him that she had a list of Ukrainian children who want to return to Ukraine, but refused to provide specific information.

When asked how many civilians there are currently on the territory of the Russian Federation, he noted that he could not give an exact figure. "But the number of appeals received by the Ombudsman's Office over the past six months, specifically concerning the maintenance of civilians, is more than 20,000. That is, we can state that at least 20,000 adult citizens are in Russia," Lubinets said.

As reported, in mid-December 2022, Lubinets reported that the Ombudsman's Office verified the stay of 12,000 Ukrainian children in the territory of the Russian Federation, 8,600 thousand of whom were forcibly removed from Ukraine.