Overview
- A Ukrainian rights lawyer told a U.S. Senate panel that 12-year-old Misha from occupied Donetsk and 16-year-old Liza from Simferopol were taken to the Songdowon camp in North Korea and exposed to militarized propaganda, including meetings with veterans of the Pueblo attack.
- The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all deported Ukrainian children, with the United States joining 90 other countries in support.
- Ukraine’s Children of War database lists at least 19,546 minors removed since 2022, while researchers have mapped more than 200 receiving sites across Russia and occupied areas, yet only 1,876 have been returned.
- The NGO Save Ukraine said it brought 18 children back to Ukrainian-controlled territory from Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Oblast, citing accounts of forced indoctrination and military training.
- In a separate effort, seven children were reunited with families through a U.S.-mediated humanitarian channel highlighted by First Lady Melania Trump’s office.