Lvova-Belova spoke about plans to reunite children with families in Ukraine

New groups of children in Russia and Ukraine will be reunited with their families next year, and work with the Ukrainian side on this issue is ongoing. Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights, told RIA Novosti on December 5.

"Until the end of the year, I think it is unlikely that there will be groups. But we have children and families in the pipeline on both sides, with whom we are now working on documents, on coordination. We are working on this issue via video-conference with Ukraine, the work is not stopping. We will not be able to reunite anyone else before the new year, but in the new year there will be next groups," she said.

It is reported that 15 children from 10 families in Russia and 87 children from 69 families in Ukraine and third countries have already been reunited with their relatives.

Earlier, on November 27, Lvova-Belova told about two more children returned from Ukraine through the mediation of Qatar. She expressed gratitude to the state of Qatar, the International Committee of the Red Cross, regional children's ombudsmen and representatives of specialized agencies for their assistance in returning the children home.

On April 24, representatives of Moscow and Kiev held face-to-face talks on the return of children to their families for the first time in Qatar. A list of 29 children to be reunited with relatives in Ukraine and 19 children to be reunited with families in Russia was announced at the meeting.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced on February 24, 2022, is ongoing. The decision was taken amid an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.