Four Irish babies born to surrogate mothers in Ukraine were united with their Irish parents in neighbouring Moldova earlier today.
It is understood that the families have now travelled together to Romania, where they are expected to stay for a few days before flying home to Ireland.
The babies, including a set of twins, were born in Kyiv.
Yesterday, accompanied by a care team, they left the Ukrainian capital to make the journey by road to the border.
Their parents, three Irish couples, left Ireland to travel to the Moldovan/Ukrainian border yesterday.
It is understood that the couples were flown to Romania yesterday on the Irish Air Corps PC-12 aircraft.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Defence have declined to comment on the operation.
However, a Government source told RTÉ News that there was a "huge sense of relief" that the children were now safe and united with their Irish parents.
RTÉ News understands that the families will fly home on commercial flights in the coming days.
On Tuesday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the four Irish babies were in a maternity hospital in Kyiv.
Mr Vardkar cited such cases as an argument against the expulsion of Russia's ambassador to Ireland Yury Filatov.
Last month, a number of Irish families returned from Ukraine with their babies who were born via surrogacy there.
A number of other babies are due to be born to Irish couples in the coming months via surrogacy in Ukraine.
