Mykolaiv Regional Council to ask the Cabinet of Ministers to allow evacuated children to return to Mykolaiv

Antonivsky Art Lyceum. Photo: Mykolaiv Regional Council

The Mykolaiv Regional Council will appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers to return the children from the Mykolaiv Centre for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation to their home in Mykolaiv. Currently, the children are temporarily living in the Antonivka Art Lyceum, where they were evacuated at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

The appeal was supported by members of the deputy commission on science and education, innovation, youth, family and sports, culture and spirituality of the Mykolaiv Regional Council, according to NikVesti.

The appeal was initiated by the deputy chairman of the Mykolaiv Regional Council, Denys Andreev. During the meeting, he stressed the need to revise the current restrictions that do not allow children to be placed around the clock in a 100-kilometre zone from the hostilities.

Support those who keep the city informed every day

Club NikVesti — a place where the reader and the editorial team are on the same side.

Members have access to a private chat, an exclusive newsletter with behind-the-scenes stories from journalists, see the news earlier, and influence the changes.

Join us. Together we keep the city bright

One-time support Monthly

€ 1 € 2 € 10

Donate

€ 2 € 5 € 10

Secure payment

The recipient of donations is the NGO “Mykolaiv Media Hub” (EDRPOU 45160758). By making a donation, you confirm that the amount is non-refundable and may be used by the NGO to implement its statutory activities, including supporting independent journalism and creating socially significant content. Public offer.

«"We visited the Antonov Art Lyceum and saw the conditions in which the children from our centre are now living. We noticed a certain dissonance between the conditions of the lyceum itself and what the children have. We discussed this issue with the regional administration, the leadership of the regional council and the chairman of the specialised commission. We came to the conclusion that we need to appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers to solve the problem of this so-called «child tourism», said Denys Andrieiev.

According to Denys Andrieiev, today regular schools in the region are operating provided that there are shelters and all security measures are in place, so the return of children to Mykolaiv is possible.

«We are actually living and all our children go to school. We can provide for everyone, schools open when all security measures and shelters are in place», he added.

Iryna Ponomariova, Director of the Children's Service of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, noted that it is not worth comparing with regular schools, as they do not teach around the clock. She also noted that they had already asked for permission to keep the children in Mykolaiv, but were not allowed to.

«This rule was never removed because of the military's reservations. Since the KAB missiles fly so fast, children will not have time to go down to the shelter within the 100-kilometre zone. Therefore, this rule will not be removed. And we brought it to our working group to allow the Mykolaiv centre to stay. But the military command is not allowed», said Iryna Ponomaryova.

However, Denys Andrieiev stressed that the resolution was adopted back in 2022, when there were different security conditions. Therefore, the commission instructed the chairman of the regional council to prepare an appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers to revise Resolution 546, which defines the procedure for moving children outside the 100-kilometre zone, to update it in accordance with current conditions and needs.

Earlier it was reported that children who were evacuated to the Antonivka Art Lyceum in Mykolaiv region were not allowed to enter the protective structures, they were forced to stay in the assembly hall, while only students of the institution used the shelters.

It is noted that in addition to violations of the rights of evacuated children, the situation with the rights of students of host institutions is similar. In particular, shortcomings have been identified in ensuring children's right to life and safety, dignity, adequate and safe food.

However, the director of the Antonivka Art Lyceum in Mykolaiv region denied the statement that evacuated children were not allowed to go to the shelter.

At the same time, the head of the Department of Education, Alla Velikhovska, noted that it was not known who exactly was interviewed by the monitoring group and who specifically did not go down to the shelter. At the same time, all children now go to the shelter after the regional council's inspections.

As a reminder, the head of the education department of the Mykolaiv regional military administration, Alla Velikhovska, accused the media of publicising the results of an inspection of the orphanages carried out a month ago by representatives of the Office of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, who found a large number of violations.

Scandal in the reorganised Children's Home in Mykolaiv

On 3 March, it became known that the monitoring group of the Ombudsman's Office, together with NGOs, had inspected children's educational institutions in the Mykolaiv region and found gross violations of children's rights. The children were fixed with belts to chairs and strollers, and a six-month-old baby suffered swelling from «tying». In other institutions, children were given expired medicines, did not receive medical care and had limited access to basic services.

On the same day, Inna Miroshnychenko, an orphan rights activist and lawyer who is a member of the Ombudsman's Monitoring Group, showed the conditions in which children live in the reorganised Centre for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care in Mykolaiv (Regional Children's Home). She actually showed the children tied to chairs, who are not allowed to go for walks and are forced to spend time watching TV.

The human rights activist said that according to the conditions, 89 employees are supposed to take care of the children. However, as it turned out from the data of the Ombudsman's Office monitoring group, only two employees were looking after the children. She called the conditions in which the children were kept inhumane.

It should be noted that in April 2024, the Centre for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care was merged with the Mykolaiv Regional Children's Hospital. At the time, this decision was explained by the need to «protect» the institution from lack of funding.

We would also like to remind you that this is not the first scandalous case involving the Mykolaiv Oblast Children's Hospital. Back in July 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the hospital was in poor condition during his visit to Mykolaiv.

In one of the wards, Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the room was not adapted for a comfortable stay. In particular, the ward lacked curtain rods, curtains, and air conditioning.