Four children brought back to Ukraine from Russian occupation with help of Melania Trump – photos

Four Ukrainian children have been brought back from temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson oblasts. They were evacuated with the assistance of US First Lady Melania Trump.

Source: Bring Kids Back UA, a Ukrainian government-led effort to bring Ukrainian children home from temporarily Russian-occupied territories

Details: The children's relatives had been unable to bring them back on their own.

Bring Kids Back UA said that one of the kids was staying with his grandparents in a frontline town in Donetsk Oblast at the start of the full-scale invasion, when the area came under Russian occupation in the first days of the war. To prevent him from being forcibly placed in a Russian orphanage, his aunt formalised guardianship over him.

In 2024, the boy's mother attempted to bring her son back herself, but Russian authorities barred her from entering Russia or Belarus.

Another boy ended up under occupation as a very young child. In autumn 2022, during active fighting in his hometown in Kharkiv Oblast, he was staying with his grandparents in Luhansk Oblast. Due to the Russian occupation, he was unable to return home.

His family had no way to bring him back on their own, meaning he spent most of his life far from his parents.

The team also managed to bring back a girl who had been living under occupation with her great-grandmother. Her mother, who lives in Ukrainian-controlled territory, had spent several years trying unsuccessfully to bring her daughter back, including one attempt to travel to Russia via a third country, though she was denied entry at the border.

A boy left without parents was also brought back from the occupation. His father died before the start of the full-scale invasion, and his mother passed away in late 2025.

As a result, the boy was at risk of ending up in a Russian orphanage. His older sister, who was in Ukrainian-controlled territory, never stopped fighting to save her brother and waited for his return.

"Behind every story of return lie years during which Russia deliberately prevented families from taking back their children, putting up artificial obstacles at every step," said Maksym Maksymov, head of Bring Kids Back UA. "That is why the attention of US First Lady Melania Trump to this issue matters so much. Her voice helps draw global attention to children being held by Russia against the will of their families."

Subscribe on Patreon to back our journalism long-term.