A total of 2,616 children have been successfully returned to Ukraine, with 673 returning this year, said Maksym Maksymov, head of the presidential initiative Bring Kids Back UA.
"The number of returned children stands at 2,616 as of September 21, 2026, with 673 having returned since the beginning of this year. This figure includes children who were deported or forcibly displaced, as well as those who were in temporarily occupied territories facing the threat of deportation," he said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
At the same time, Maksymov noted that there is no such thing as a steady rate of return, as each case is a separate operation; "therefore, the number of children returning in a given month depends on the stage of the proceedings, whether there is access to a child at all, and how the Russian side behaves."
According to Maksymov, the pace of returning Ukrainian children has increased in 2026. By the end of 2025, 1,943 children had been returned; by the end of May 2026, the figure was 2,191; and as of September 21, it stood at 2,616. In the first five months of the year, 248 children were returned, while another 425 were brought back between the end of May and September 21.
"For comparison: we returned 725 children over the course of last year, whereas this year—in less than nine months—we have already returned 673. We therefore anticipate that the total for 2026 will exceed last year's figure," he emphasized.
