Fourteen children and one adult have returned from occupied Kherson Oblast to Ukrainian-controlled territory. Since the start of 2026, 204 children have come back from the region.
There is good news from southern Ukraine: on 29 September, fourteen children and one adult returned from occupied Kherson Oblast to territory controlled by Ukraine. The announcement came from Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration. Volunteers Support Ukraine highlights stories like this because they show that coming home is possible.
The group includes four boys and ten girls aged 6 to 17. The adult is a former child who had been deprived of parental care. Officials shared a few of their stories: a 16-year-old boy whom the occupiers were forcing onto Russia's military registry, a 17-year-old girl who wanted a Ukrainian education despite the risks and enemy surveillance, and a 10-year-old girl who dreamed of going home. According to Prokudin, all of them endured hard trials while living under pressure from the occupation regime.
The children returned under the presidential initiative Bring Kids Back UA, together with the charity Save Ukraine. According to the regional administration, 204 children have been brought back from occupied Kherson Oblast since the beginning of 2026. The returnees are receiving the assistance they need.
Thousands of Ukrainian children remain in occupied areas or were taken to Russia, and bringing them back takes coordinated work by the state and its partners. Every such story is a family reunited and a childhood given back.
NGO Volunteers Support Ukraine keeps helping people affected by the war in whatever way its available resources allow, and we will keep sharing the good news that gives people hope.
