Natalia Rakk speaks with her 14-year-old daughters Dasha and Aliona, taken to Russia, after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border in Volyn region
Natalia Rakk speaks with her 14-year-old daughters Dasha and Aliona, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and were then taken to Russia, after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters

More than 30 children were reunited with their families in Ukraine this weekend after a long operation to bring them back home from Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea, where they had been taken from areas occupied by Russian forces during the war.

Mothers hugged sons and daughters as they crossed the border from Belarus into Ukraine on Friday after a complex rescue mission involving travel across four countries.

Dasha Rakk, a 13-year-old girl, said she and her twin sister had agreed to leave the Russian-occupied city of Kherson last year because of the war and go to a holiday camp in Crimea for a few weeks. But once in Crimea, Russian officials said the children would be staying for longer.

"They said we will be adopted, that we will get guardians," she said. "When they first told us we will stay longer we all started crying."

Dasha's mother Natalia said she had travelled from Ukraine to Crimea via Poland, Belarus and Moscow to get her daughters. Ukraine's Crimea peninsula has been occupied by Russia since 2014.

"It was terribly difficult but we kept on going, we did not sleep at nights, we slept sitting up," she said, describing her journey to the camp.

"It was heartbreaking to look at children left behind who were crying behind the fence," she said.

Kyiv estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea since Moscow invaded in February last year, in what it condemns as illegal deportations.

Moscow, which control chunks of Ukraine's east and south, denies abducting children and says they have been transported away for their own safety.

"Now the fifth rescue mission is nearing its completion. It was special regarding the number of children we managed to return and also because of its complexity," said Mykola Kuleba, the founder of the Save Ukraine humanitarian organisation that helped arrange the rescue mission.

Kuleba told a Kyiv briefing on Saturday that all 31 children brought home said no one in Russia was trying to find their parents.

"There were kids who changed their locations five times in five months, some children say that they were living with rats and cockroaches," he said. The children were taken to what Russians called stays in summer camps from occupied parts of Ukraine's Kharkiv and Kherson regions, Kuleba said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ARREST WARRANTS

Three children - two boys and a girl - were present at the media briefing in Kyiv. Save Ukraine said they came home on a previous mission last month that returned 18 children in total.

The three said they had been separated from their parents who were pressured by Russian authorities to send their children to Russian summer camps for what was billed as two weeks, from occupied parts of Kherson and Kharkiv regions.

The children at the briefing said they were forced to remain at the summer camps for four to six months and were moved from one place to another during their stay.

"We were treated like animals. We were closed in a separate building," said Vitaly, a child from Kherson region whose age was not clear. He added that they were told their parents no longer wanted them.

The International Criminal Court last month issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's children's rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine.

Moscow has not concealed a programme under which it has taken thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied areas, but presents this it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.

Russia rejects the ICC allegations, saying it does not recognise the court's jurisdiction and calling the warrants null and void.

Lvova-Belova said earlier this week that her commission acted on humanitarian grounds to protect the interests of children in an area where military action was taking place and had not moved anyone against their will or that of their parents or legal guardians, whose consent was always sought unless they were missing.

Kateryna Rashevska, a lawyer from a Ukrainian NGO called Regional Centre for Human Rights, told the briefing they were collecting evidence to build a case that Russian officials deliberately prevented return of the Ukrainian children.

"In every story there is a whole range of international violations and it cannot go unpunished," she said.

Volunteers welcome women and their children, taken to Russia, after tey returned via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region
Volunteers welcome Iryna Hrinchenko, Natalia Rakk and their children, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and were then taken to Russia, after they returned via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters
Children taken to Russia walk to a bus after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region
Children, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and were then taken to Russia, walk to a bus after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters
Volunteers help women and their children taken to Russia after they returned via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region
Volunteers help women and their children, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and were then taken to Russia, as they walk to a bus after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters
14-year-old sisters Dasha and Aliona Rakk, who were taken to Russia, sit inside a bus after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region
14-year-old sisters Dasha and Aliona Rakk, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and were then taken to Russia, sit inside a bus after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters
Alla Yatsentiuk speaks with Reuters before travelling to Russia to take back her son, at a volunteer centre in Kyiv
Alla Yatsentiuk speaks with Reuters before travelling to take back her 14-year-old son Danylo, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and was then taken to Russia, at a volunteer centre in Kyiv, Ukraine March 30, 2023. Reuters
Alla Yatsentiuk shows a picture of her 14-year-old son Danylo as she speaks with Reuters before travelling to Russia to take him back, at a volunteer centre in Kyiv
Alla Yatsentiuk shows a picture of her 14-year-old son Danylo, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and was then taken to Russia, as she speaks with Reuters before travelling to take Danylo back, at a volunteer centre in Kyiv, Ukraine March 30, 2023. Reuters
Alla Yatsentiuk looks at her 14-year-old son Danylo, who was taken to Russia, after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region
Alla Yatsentiuk looks at her 14-year-old son Danylo, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and was then taken to Russia, after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters
Valeriia, who was taken to Russia, embraces her mother Anastasiia after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Kyiv
Valeriia, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and was then taken to Russia, embraces her mother Anastasiia after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 8, 2023. Reuters
Iryna embraces her 13-year-old son Bohdan, who was taken to Russia, after he returned via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Kyiv
Iryna embraces her 13-year-old son Bohdan, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and was then taken to Russia, after he returned via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 8, 2023. Reuters
Iryna and Anastasia react as they wait for arrival of their children after their returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Kyiv
Iryna and Anastasia react as they wait for arrival of their children, who went to Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and than were taken to Russia, after their returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 8, 2023. Reuters
10-year-old Kira walks after crossing the Belarus-Ukraine border, in Volyn region
10-year-old Kira, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and was then taken to Russia, walks after crossing the Belarus-Ukraine border, in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters
Children taken to Russia wait for departure to Kyiv after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border in Volyn region
Children who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and were then taken to Russia, wait for departure to Kyiv after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters
Iryna Hrinchenko smiles as she walks with her daughter Anastasiia, who was taken to Russia, after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region
Iryna Hrinchenko smiles as she walks with her daughter Anastasiia, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and was then taken to Russia, after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters
Yana Shapochko reacts as she embraces her 9-year-old nephew Danyil, who was taken to Russia, after he returned via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Kyiv
Yana Shapochko reacts as she embraces her 9-year-old nephew Danyil, who was taken by his grandmother from the non-government-controlled territory of Kharkiv region to Russia due to security reasons, after he returned via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 8, 2023. Reuters
Sisters Anastasiia and Kseniia Hrinchenko, who were taken to Russia, feed dogs after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region
Sisters Anastasiia and Kseniia Hrinchenko, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and were then taken to Russia, feed dogs after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters
Alla Yatsentiuk embraces her 14-year-old son Danylo, who was taken to Russia, after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region
Alla Yatsentiuk embraces her 14-year-old son Danylo, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and was then taken to Russia, after returning via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Volyn region, Ukraine April 7, 2023. Reuters
Anastasiia holds her daughter Valeriia and son Maksym, who were taken to Russia, after they returned via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Kyiv
Anastasiia holds her daughter Valeriia and son Maksym, who went to a Russian-organised summer camp from non-government controlled territories and were then taken to Russia, after they returned via the Ukraine-Belarus border, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 8, 2023. Reuters