Greater than 30 youngsters have been reunited with their households in Ukraine this week after an extended operation to deliver them again from Russia, the place that they had been taken from occupied areas throughout the warfare, a humanitarian group has mentioned.

Kyiv has estimated almost 19,500 youngsters have been taken to Russia since Moscow invaded in February final 12 months, in what it condemns as unlawful deportations.

Moscow, which controls elements of Ukraine’s east and south, has denied abducting youngsters and mentioned they’ve been transported away for their very own security.

On Friday, the Save Ukraine charity mentioned the kids and their family members had crossed the border into Kyiv-controlled territory.

In line with launched footage, the kids, who carried suitcases and luggage, crossed the border on foot and later boarded a bus to proceed their journey.

“Now, the fifth rescue mission is nearing its completion. It was particular concerning the variety of youngsters we managed to return and in addition due to its complexity,” mentioned Mykola Kuleba, the founding father of Save Ukraine.

Kuleba praised the “heroic moms” who had travelled to retrieve their youngsters in what he known as the “most tough” of the charity’s rescue missions up to now.

The group helped the Ukrainian family members of kids who had been taken to Russia with the logistics, transport and planning wanted to embark on the lengthy journey to fetch their youngsters and produce them again.

A grandmother who had been attributable to reunite with two of her grandchildren died out of the blue on the journey from “stress” and the kids needed to stay in Russia, Kuleba, Ukraine’s former commissioner for kids’s rights, advised a media briefing in Kyiv.

Writing on Fb, he mentioned the Ukrainian family members had been subjected to a “13-hour interrogation” by Russia’s FSB safety service.

Kuleba mentioned that each one the kids who’ve been introduced again to Ukraine by Save Ukraine had mentioned that nobody in Russia was looking for their dad and mom in Ukraine.

“There have been youngsters who modified their areas 5 instances in 5 months, some youngsters say that they had been residing with rats and cockroaches,” he mentioned. The youngsters had been taken to what Russians known as summer season camps from occupied elements of Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Kherson areas, Kuleba mentioned.

There was no instant remark from Moscow.

Three youngsters – two boys and a woman – had been current on the media briefing in Kyiv. Save Ukraine mentioned they had been returned to Ukraine on a earlier rescue mission final month that returned 18 youngsters in whole.

The three youngsters mentioned that they had been separated from their dad and mom who had been pressured by Russian authorities to ship their youngsters to Russian summer season camps for what was billed as two weeks, from occupied elements of Kherson and Kharkiv areas.

The youngsters on the briefing mentioned they had been pressured to stay on the summer season camps for 4 to 6 months and had been moved from one place to a different throughout their keep.

“We had been handled like animals. We had been closed in a separate constructing,” mentioned Vitaly, a toddler from Kherson area whose age was not clear. He added that they had been advised their dad and mom not needed them.

Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from Kyiv, mentioned it’s believed many 1000’s of Ukrainian youngsters stay in Russia.

“A few of them, accompanied by their dad and mom, have made energetic selections to remain in Russia. However it’s alleged quite a bit morewere illegally deported. In line with the proof of a few of those that have returned, generally they had been held towards their will and subjected to demeaning therapy, propaganda and indoctrination”.

The Worldwide Felony Court docket final month issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s youngsters’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of abducting youngsters from Ukraine.

Moscow has not hid a programme beneath which it has introduced 1000’s of Ukrainian youngsters to Russia from occupied areas, however offered relocations as a humanitarian marketing campaign to guard orphans and youngsters deserted within the battle zone.

Russia has rejected the allegations of the ICC, saying it doesn’t recognise the jurisdiction of the courtroom and calling the warrant towards Putin and Lvova-Belova null and void.

Lvova-Belova advised a information convention earlier this week that her fee acted on humanitarian grounds to guard the pursuits of kids in an space the place navy motion was happening and had not moved anybody towards their will or that of their dad and mom or authorized guardians, whose consent was all the time sought except they had been lacking.

Kateryna Rashevska, a lawyer from the Ukrainian NGO Regional Centre for Human Rights, advised the briefing they had been gathering proof to construct a case that Russian officers intentionally prevented the return of the Ukrainian youngsters again to their nation.

“In each story, there’s a entire vary of worldwide violations and it can’t go unpunished,” she mentioned.