(Reuters) -Twenty-three Ukrainian children and adolescents have been transferred from Russian-occupied areas of the country to areas under Kiev's control, President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff said on Thursday.
Andriy Yermak said on the messaging app Telegram that the rescue was carried out under the president's “Bring Kids Back UA” program, aimed at bringing to safe areas children deported to Russia or detained in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
Yermak said the returnees also included two sisters who refused to submit a request to attend Russian schools submitted by authorities installed in Russia, who had threatened to remove the girls from their mother's care.
Another teenage boy also refused to attend Russian school, and one child and her mother were denied permission to leave the occupied territories because one of their relatives served in the Ukrainian army.
Ukraine says Russia has illegally deported or forcibly moved more than 19,500 children to Russia and Belarus in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
US-funded research suggested in a September report from Yale's School of Public Health that the number could be closer to 35,000.
Russia denies deporting children from Ukraine and says it has taken action to ensure they are safe from wartime hostilities.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Jamie Freed)
