Zelenskyy: Bring Kids Back UA program facilitates return of 2,126 Ukrainian children from Russia

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that thanks to his Bring Kids Back UA initiative, it was possible to return 2,126 Ukrainian children previously abducted by Russia.

"Thanks to the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, 2,126 returns were ensured. We will continue this work. We have involved strong international mediators to return children home. I am grateful to every country that joined our efforts to return the children," Zelenskyy said during the Civil Society and Experts Day event in Kyiv on Thursday, held by the Bring Kids Back UA initiative ahead of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children meeting in Brussels on May 11.

As an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reports, the head of state emphasized that thousands of Ukrainian children remain in Russia, "torn from their families, from their country, from their home."

"This is one of the most cynical Russian war crimes – the systematic, calculated removal of Ukrainian children, dispersing them across Russia, hiding their fate, reprogramming their culture so that Ukrainian children forget they are Ukrainians and could fight against Ukraine and against anyone else pointed out by the masters of Russia. It is extremely important to take our children from there before Russia breaks them," Zelenskyy said.

On April 22, the president reported that during the operation of Bring Kids Back UA, "more than 2,100" Ukrainian children abducted by Russia were returned home, including 150 since the beginning of 2026.