According to the Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, seven Ukrainian civilians have returned from Russia to territory controlled by Ukraine. In return, seven civilians travelled to Russia as part of family reunification work, Lubinets said on social media, according to the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.
According to Lubinets, the agreement was reached through his humanitarian communication channel with the Russian Human Rights Commissioner, Yana Lantratova. He said the return of the seven Ukrainians took place with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Among those who returned was a 90-year-old woman with limited mobility, as well as a 50-year-old Ukrainian woman who had suffered a heart attack and a stroke and has other illnesses, Ukrainska Pravda reports. Because of the health condition of both women, the necessary transport arrangements were made when organising the return.
The return of a young woman with her child was also organised. The woman had been temporarily in Mariupol at the start of Russia’s war of aggression and was unable to return to her family because of the fighting and the subsequent occupation of the city, the report says. A major obstacle was the documentation of the child. The family needs psychological support.
“Now they are already at home. They need psychological support, but they are happy to be on home soil,” the news outlet Rubryka quoted Lubinets as saying. He added: “Behind every such return are people who need help and families waiting for their relatives. We will continue this humanitarian work so that there are more such returns.”
The previous day, Thursday, another eleven Ukrainian citizens left the temporarily occupied territories for territory controlled by the Ukrainian government, Rubryka reported, citing Lubinets. Some of them needed a medical examination and further treatment. After returning, the people would also be supported with housing, transport and social assistance.
According to the Human Rights Commissioner, a total of 818 people received help with family reunification in the years 2023 to 2026, as the outlet Hvaramedia reported. Through the “Mokrany – Domanove” border crossing alone, a total of 24,953 people returned to Ukraine between 24 May 2024 and 15 October 2026, including 2,054 children. In 2026, there had so far been 11,815 people, including 802 children.
