Lithuania plans to offer rehabilitation and psychiatric services to Ukrainian children who were forcibly deported to Russia and later returned to Ukraine, LRT reported on September 22.
According to Skirmantas Krunkaitis, an advisor to the Lithuanian Minister of Health, the first children are expected to arrive in Lithuania from Ukraine this autumn.
“We are already in the technical phase, specifically addressing when the children can begin traveling to Lithuania,” Krunkaitis stated.
This assistance will be provided after receiving a formal request from Kyiv. The children will receive treatment at medical rehabilitation facilities, and psychiatric care will be offered to mitigate the effects of their forced deportation to Russia, according to LRT.
The rehabilitation will focus on motor or respiratory rehabilitation, depending on medical needs, with specific groups of children who were abducted and taken to Russia being prioritized.
Initially, Lithuania aims to accept around 15-20 children per month, totaling approximately 150 children annually. The estimated cost for providing these services, including accompanying individuals, will be around €400,000 per year.
In 2025, the expenses for these services are expected to be covered through borrowed funds, with future funding potentially coming from the European Union or other sources in 2026, LRT writes.
Previously, as part of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative, another 16 Ukrainian children have been rescued from temporarily occupied territories, Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak reported.
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