“Repatriation is only the first step,” — Ukrainian Child Rights Network at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

At the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a meeting took place between the Ukrainian delegation, Members of the European Parliament, and international lawyers to discuss the militarization of Ukrainian children under occupation and their deportation.

Representatives of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network took part in the meeting, where they shared their experience in the return and reintegration of children, as well as the stories of those who had undergone militarization and managed to come back home.

Thanks to our work in partnership with the President of Ukraine’s initiative Bring Kids Back UA, 263 children and young people have already been returned. Today, they once again have access to education, healthcare, and basic living conditions.

Angelina Kasyanova, a child repatriation specialist at the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, emphasized: repatriation is only the first step.

Next begins the complex and lengthy process of integration, which brings with it serious challenges:

• educational gaps in children who lived under occupation for years;
• legal barriers and complicated document procedures;
• the risk of stigmatization within communities;
• a shortage of psychologists and social workers;
• the need for constant flexibility due to changing routes and documents.

The most important element in this process is trust: children must feel safe, and parents must be confident that their children are protected.

For over eleven years, Ukrainian children have been living in the reality of war, occupation, and deportation. The scale of the crime is staggering: according to official Russian data submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, at least 46,000 children have been forcibly granted citizenship. In total, around 1.6 million children are currently under the control of the occupying state.

In the temporarily occupied territories, Russia is building an entire system for the militarization of children. In schools, lessons are replaced with “military-patriotic” activities; children in uniform are lined up for the Russian anthem, sent to drill training, and are compulsorily involved in “patriotic clubs.”

Girls are trained no less than boys: they are also prepared for future service, being shaped to adopt an aggressive attitude toward Ukraine and their own people.

A central element of this policy is the “Yunarmiya”, a militarized youth organization that enrolls children as young as 8 years old. There, they are taught military discipline, weapons handling, and prepared for service in the occupying state’s army, which they are expected to join at 18. This is not a voluntary choice—children are coerced through pressure, threats, and blackmail. What is presented as “education” is, in reality, the shaping of a generation that Russia plans to use in war.

Today, the militarization of children is not only a problem for Ukraine but a challenge for the entire international community. That is why we are grateful to our partners in Europe and around the world for their support and joint efforts to ensure that every Ukrainian child can return to a safe environment and have a future free from war.

The Ukrainian Child Rights Network (UCRN) in partnership with SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds Deutschland e.V. is implementing the project of return and support for deported children and youth “The Way Home: A New Route”.