Another eight children between the ages of 7 and 16 were returned from the Al of Kherson district. There are five girls and three boys. Among them is a nine-year-old girl who was forced to attend an occupation school where Ukrainian was banned. There she was forcibly recruited into Russian propaganda movements, forced to sing the national anthem of the Russian Federation and write letters to the Russian army. Now this girl and other rescued children are safe. From the beginning of 2026, it was possible to return 243 children from the El of Kherson region to the territory controlled by Ukraine. Ukraine has officially confirmed that Russia abducted 20,600 Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories. The Russian Federation itself says it has deported 744,000 children.