Eleven more Ukrainian children return home from Russia, Russian-held areas

(Reuters) - Eleven more Ukrainian children have been brought home from parts of Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine where they had been taken without permission, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff said on Wednesday.

"Today we have one more piece of good news," Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

"Within the framework of the president of Ukraine's Bring Kids Back UA initiative, another 11 Ukrainian children were brought back from temporarily occupied areas (of Ukraine) and the territory of the Russian Federation."

Among the children, Yermak said, were brothers aged 10 and 12 whose father died after being tortured for expressing pro-Ukrainian views.

Also brought home, Yermak wrote, was a pregnant mother who had been prevented from leaving occupied Ukraine because she had refused to take out Russian identity papers and her 2-year-old toddler. The mother gave birth to another child in Ukrainian-held territory.

Yermak thanked the office of Ukraine's ombudsman for its help in arranging the return of the children.

There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.

Ukraine says more than 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians during the war, calling the abductions a war crime that meets the U.N. treaty definition of genocide.

The International Criminal Court issued warrants in 2023 for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges related to the abduction of Ukrainian children.

The Kremlin rejects the allegations and says the children were taken out of war zones for their own protection.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Leslie Adler)