Another 30 Ukrainian children have arrived in Azerbaijan for rest, health improvement, and psychological rehabilitation, according to the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The new group includes children from the Dnipropetrovsk region and the city of Boyarka in the Kyiv region.
The program will take place in Gabala, one of Azerbaijan’s largest tourist and resort centers. The children will participate in recreational activities, health-improvement programs, and receive psychological support.
Since the start of the full-scale war, 722 Ukrainian children have already had the opportunity to rest and undergo rehabilitation in Azerbaijan.
Yuriy Gusev, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan, thanked the country’s leadership and the Azerbaijani people for their support of Ukrainian children.
“We are sincerely grateful to the leadership of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani people for their solidarity, care, hospitality, and support for Ukrainian children. This is yet another demonstration of the genuine friendship between our peoples and the Ukrainian-Azerbaijani strategic partnership,” the ambassador noted.
Recreation and rehabilitation programs for Ukrainian children in Azerbaijan have been implemented since the start of the full-scale war and have become one of the areas of humanitarian cooperation between the two countries.
AZERBAIJAN, child, HUMANITARIAN AID, REHABILITATION, UKRAINE
More than 400 Ukrainian children, mostly from Ukraine’s frontline regions, had the opportunity to participate in a health and summer vacation program in Austria with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine and Austrian partners.
This was reported by the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Austria.
The programs for children were organized in cooperation with the federal states of Austria and with the direct participation of Austrian civil society organizations.
“One of the Embassy’s key priorities is to create opportunities for Ukrainian children to receive health treatment and enjoy a vacation,” the diplomatic mission noted.
In total, more than 400 Ukrainian children took advantage of the opportunity to vacation in Austria during the summer. The organizers focused primarily on children from regions located near the front lines that are regularly subjected to Russian shelling.
The embassy expressed gratitude to the federal states, civil society organizations, and other Austrian partners who contributed to the implementation of the programs.
“We thank everyone who participated and gave our children the opportunity to experience the joy of childhood. We hope for continued support in the future,” the statement reads.
Organizing recreational and health programs for Ukrainian children abroad has become one of the areas of Ukraine’s humanitarian cooperation with European countries since the start of the full-scale war. Such programs are primarily aimed at children from frontline regions and areas affected by hostilities.
Original source: Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Austria.
Norway will allocate a total of NOK25 million (approximately $2.62 million) to support Ukrainian children who have returned from deportation, as well as to search for missing children and assist illegally detained civilians and prisoners of war through UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
This was announced in a press release published on the Norwegian government’s website on Tuesday.
Specifically, NOK 15 million will be allocated to UNICEF’s efforts to support the reintegration of children who have returned to Ukraine and to locate missing children. This funding is part of Norway’s broader contribution of NOK 132 million to UNICEF’s humanitarian program in Ukraine.
An additional NOK 10 million will be directed to the Central Tracing Agency (CTA) of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The support package was announced at the international conference “Pathways to Peace: Returning Ukrainian Children, Detained Civilians, and Prisoners of War,” taking place in Toronto on September 28–29. Norway is co-hosting the conference alongside Canada and Ukraine.
“Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine has led to serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. We must continue to draw attention to these violations and do everything possible to support Ukrainians who have suffered as a result of the war,” said Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Bart Eide.
According to him, the funds will help locate those missing in action, support efforts to bring more people home, and facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of those affected by the war.
The conference will feature testimonies from people who have returned after being held captive or deported. Prior to the conference’s opening, Norwegian State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Eivind Vad Petersen will participate in a trilateral meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga.
In addition, Norway is allocating NOK 90 million to support the ICRC’s broader humanitarian activities in Ukraine.
Children with mental disorders who require inpatient care in Ukraine should be treated in regional or city children’s hospitals, rather than in general psychiatric facilities, said Yevhen Gonchar, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Health, in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to him, the legislation was amended after cases were uncovered in which children from residential care facilities were referred to psychiatric hospitals—in particular, under the guise of treatment or rehabilitation, or in fact to influence their behavior.
Such cases were documented in reports by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights and law enforcement agencies.
Gonchar emphasized that a psychiatric hospital should not be used as a tool for correcting a child’s behavior.
Adult patients with dementia who have been in psychiatric facilities for a long time, primarily for social rather than medical reasons, remain a separate issue.
Stable patients with dementia who do not require treatment for acute episodes, according to the deputy minister, should receive social care—specifically in supported living facilities or other specialized institutions—rather than permanently occupying beds in psychiatric hospitals.
In the first half of 2026, 8,352 thousand births were registered in Kyiv—about 11% of the total number of newborns in Ukraine.
Lviv Oblast took second place, with 6,617 thousand children born. Next were Dnipropetrovsk Oblast with 5,611 thousand newborns and Odesa Oblast with 5,450 thousand.
At the same time, the birth rate declined not only in frontline regions but also in relatively safe regions. In the Vinnytsia, Lviv, and Ternopil regions, the number of births decreased by approximately 20% compared to the first half of 2025.
The sharpest decline was recorded in the Donetsk region, where the number of newborns fell by about three times. In the Zaporizhzhia region, the figure dropped by 23%.
In total, 73,292 births were registered in Ukraine from January through June 2026, which is 16% fewer than a year earlier, OpenDataBot reported on July 22, citing data from the Ministry of Justice.
