MOSCOW (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Moscow says some Russian children caught in limbo by a ban on adoptions by Americans have left for the United States with their new parents.

The confirmation early Wednesday from press attach Joseph Kruzich was the first official word that any of the 46 children had been allowed to leave Russia. He did not say how many of the children had left.

The adoptions of these children had been approved by Russian courts before the ban went into effect Jan. 1, but had not passed the 30-day waiting period before being finalized.

Some of the would-be adoptive parents came to Moscow hoping to take the children home, but were left hanging when officials refused to turn them over, citing legal uncertainties over the new law.