Child abductions in the Russo-Ukrainian war

2010s Russia started transferring children from Ukrainian territories in 2014, the first year of the Russo-Ukrainian war. The same month, Russian children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova has stated that a group of Ukrainian children transferred to Russia from Mariupol had initially asserted their Ukrainian identity, but that it had since transformed into a love for Russia, saying that she had adopted one of the children herself. On 30 May, Vladimir Putin signed a decree that streamlined the process of adopting Ukrainian orphans or those without parental care and giving them Russian citizenship. By 11 April, two-thirds of Ukraine's 7.5 million children had been displaced according to the U.N. Ukraine's human rights commissioner, Lyudmila Denysova, and U.N. ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, stated at that time that more than 120,000 children had been deported to Russia. According to Ukrainska Pravda, Russia has taken 267 orphans from Mariupol to Rostov to be made Russian citizens, supervised by Maria Lvova-Belova. It also reported that Russian authorities had looked for and collected orphaned children, to be taken to an unknown destination. Sky News released CCTV footage dated June of Russian FSB officials entering an orphanage Kherson to search for orphans. Aware of the risk of child abductions, the staff hid the children prior to their arrival. Finding the orphanage empty, the FSB agents seized records, computers, and the CCTV system from the orphanage in an apparent effort to track down the missing children. Russian authorities subsequently sent abducted 15 children to be housed in the orphanage, only to be taken away by the Russian occupiers as they retreated from Kherson. Russian forces also successfully abducted children from a different Kherson orphanage, an eyewitness told Sky News. In June, Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the National Defense Management Center, claimed 1,936,911 Ukrainians had been deported to Russia, of whom 307,423 were children. On 7 September a United Nations official reported that there were credible accusations that Russian forces had sent Ukrainian children to Russia for adoption as part of a forced deportation programme, and the US ambassador informed the UN Security Council that more than 1,800 Ukrainian children had been transferred to Russia in July alone. Child abduction during "filtration" procedures was documented in a 10 November Amnesty International report entitled "Russia’s Unlawful Transfer And Abuse Of Civilians In Ukraine During 'Filtration'". In December, a report published by the Eastern Human Rights Group and the Institute for Strategic Research and Security concluded that the deportations in Donbas were prepared by the Russian Federation under the guise of "evacuation" ahead of time. 2023 As early as 28 April 2023 the abductions were a matter of interest at the UNSC. According to an August Reuters report, Alexei Petrov, an aide to the office of Russia's presidential commissioner for children's rights, had employed neo-Nazi rhetoric and symbols in his online activity, and associated himself with neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and Russian far-right movements online. 2024 On 2 February 2024 the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children launched itself with 37 partner nations. It was co-chaired by Ukraine and Canada. In February NPR interviewed two formerly kidnapped children after they had been heard by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Later during the 118th United States Congress, Rep Susan Wild proposed H.Res 149: "Condemning the illegal abduction and forcible transfer of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation"; it earned 39 co-sponsors. The House agreed to the resolution on March 19, 2024, passing it by a vote of 390 to 9. The members voting against the resolution were: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tom Tiffany, Eric Burlison, Andy Biggs, Clay Higgins, Thomas Massie, Matt Rosendale, Warren Davidson, and Chip Roy. In June Ukrainians became aware that Russia had placed photographs of several of the abductees in an online format. 2025 In October 2025 it was announced by United States First Lady Melania Trump that due to ongoing talks with Putin she had assisted in the reunification of eight children that had been "displaced". Per Trump, three of the eight children had been separated from their families and "displaced" into Russia due to front line fighting, while the remainder were separated from family members across borders due to the fighting. == Abductions ==

The vast majority of the abducted children have been abducted from southern and eastern Ukraine (Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Mykolaiv regions). Ukraine's ombudsman on children's rights has alleged that Russian occupation authorities have used abductions as a punitive measure against parents who disobey occupation authorities, revoking their parental rights as punishment for dissent. group homes, Most children in the care of Ukrainian state institutions (including some of those in orphanages) are not orphans but were only temporarily or permanently placed under the care of the state by parents facing personal hardships such as poverty, illness, or addiction. The Ukrainian state facilitates the voluntary temporary or permanent placement of children under the care of state institutions by parents. The Yale School of Public Health have documented a “systematic” effort to brainwash the Ukrainian children. Summer camp stays Parents in Russian-occupied areas have been encouraged by Russian occupation authorities, Russian forces, and teachers to send their children to so-called "summer camps" (in fact re-education camps for Ukrainian children) for a respite from the Russo-Ukrainian war. Some parents were pressured to allow their children to go to the camps, while others agreed in order to get their children out of an active war zone, or to take advantage of an opportunity to provide them a free trip (many families that agreed to send their children were economically disadvantaged) or better living conditions amid the ravages of war. Some children were retrieved through intervention by the Ukrainian government. Parents' ability to communicate with their children during their stay in the camps has been curtailed, and parents have been denied information about their child's status. ==Maltreatment==

According to witness testimonies obtained by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, some of the children have experienced poor living conditions, inadequate care, and verbal abuse while living under the custody of the Russian state. Some returned children have attested to harsh punishments and restrictive living conditions while in Russia. The Ukrainian government has claimed that some children have experienced sexual exploitation after being forcibly transferred to Russia. Children detained in summer camps have testified to frequent punishment, bullying by peers, and pressure to sing the Russian anthem. Abducted children are offered a three-month-long rehabilitation with mental health care teams upon returning to Ukraine. ==Russian policies==

Adoptions Russian law prohibits adoptions of children who are citizens of other countries by Russian citizens without the consent of the child's home country. In May 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a decree or their repatriation to Ukraine. Russification and re-education According to The New York Times, "Russian officials ... made clear that their goal is to replace any childhood attachment to home with a love for Russia". During the occupation of Novopskov, occupation authorities threatened to deprive parents of parental rights if their child did not attend a school with a Russian curriculum. In 2022, the Russian government established a large-scale system of at least 43 children's camps in Russia and Crimea (most of which previously served as children's summer resorts) the main purpose of which appears to be "integrating children from Ukraine into the Russian government's vision of national culture, history, and society", according to a report by Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab. Children in such camps have been subjected to Russification, Russian state propaganda, and military education (including firearm training). Children have also been provided with formal education in accordance with Russia's educational standards (either at the camps or at local schools) in an effort to steer them towards attending university in Russia. The Russian state has carefully crafted the portrayal of the forced transfers of children to the Russian public. Russian state television has broadcast footage of Russian officials handing out teddy bears to newly arrived abducted children, and Russian officials in Donetsk have invited reporters to events where gifts were handed out to abducted children. Ukraine's ombudsman on children's rights has said the process of tracking down abducted children is especially difficult with young children that may not remember where they are from. == Belarusian involvement ==

The Belarusian state and state-affiliated organisations have actively participated in the forced transfers of Ukrainian children. Ukrainian children have been deported to Belarus where they are held in recreational camps. The National Anti-Crisis Management Group, a Belarusian organisation headed by Belarusian opposition figure Pavel Latushka, used open-source information to report in August 2023 that at least 2,100 Ukrainian children had been transferred to Belarus. According to Latushka, they were being held in summer camps administered by state-owned corporations. He also said that to state documents showed the transfers are being conducted under the authority of the Union State. Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed concerns regarding the transfers, suggesting that Ukrainian children were instead being trafficked to Western countries for organ harvesting. The United States, Ukraine, Australia and New Zealand have also imposed sanctions in relation to the forced deportations. == North Korean involvement ==

Ukraine reported that at least two children (a 12 year old and a 16 year old) were sent to the Songdowon International Children's Camp in North Korea. The matter was discussed in a U.S. Senate subcommittee. ==Genocide question==

The 1948 Genocide Convention states: Russia's kidnapping and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russify them has sometimes been mentioned as meeting the requirements of the Genocide Convention. According to a May 2022 report by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights in Montreal and the New Lines Institute in Washington, there are "reasonable grounds to conclude" that Russia is in breach of two articles of the 1948 Genocide Convention, among them the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, in itself a genocidal act. Professor in Law Yulia Ioffe wrote that the child abductions satisfy the prima facie elements of the crime of genocide. Lily Muelrath of the University of Wisconsin Law School agreed with such classification, as did Azeem Ibrahim, Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute. British sociologist Martin Shaw included it as just one of several Russian acts in Ukraine amounting to genocide. Criminal law Professors Denys Azarov, Dmytro Koval, Gaiane Nuridzhanian and Volodymyr Venher argued that the permanent separation of Ukrainian children from their families and national identity amounts to a larger plan of the destruction of Ukrainian nation. Others have compared it to a cultural genocide. American-Ukrainian lawyer Askold Lozynskyj identified three attempted genocides against Ukrainian people, the Holodomor, Operation Vistula, and the Russian invasion and attack against Ukraine since 2014, including deportation of Ukrainian children. In April 2023, the Council of Europe deemed the forced transfers of children as constituting an act of genocide in with an overwhelming majority of 87 in favour of the resolution to 1 against and 1 abstaining. ==Sanctions==

Russian children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova has been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. ==Arrest warrants==

building at The Hague On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova, alleging criminal responsibility for the unlawful deportation and transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. The charges carry a potential life sentence. It is the first time the court has issued an arrest warrant against the leader of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said, "We must ensure that those responsible for alleged crimes are held accountable and that children are returned to their families and communities. We cannot allow children to be treated as if they are the spoils of war." ==Reactions==

Russia Lvova-Belova has claimed that the Russian state is entirely willing to reunite the children with their parents if they come forward. In June 2025, during the Istanbul talks, Ukraine handed over a list of 339 children, a partial list of the nearly 20,000 total that they said they verified have been abducted by Russia. Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, emphasized that this figure was far smaller than the reported 20,000. Medinsky also said that Russia would review the list, while insisting that "not a single child was abducted" and that many Ukrainian children had been "rescued from the combat zone.". On 23 July, Medinsky stated that the list of 339 children is being reviewed, saying that some have been returned to Ukraine, while the rest are being checked for the presence of legal guardians. Ukraine Ukrainian authorities have claimed Putin's decree to be a way to "legalize the abduction of children from the territory of Ukraine". They have maintained this "grossly violate[s]" the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. More than 19,000 children have been deported to Russia. United Nations UNICEF Emergency Programs Director Manuel Fontaine told CBS News that UNICEF was "looking into how we can track or help on that", though stating they did not have ability to investigate at the moment. On 15 March 2023, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report declaring these forced transfers of children are illegal and a war crime. It broadly gave three categories of deported children: those who lost contact with their parents due to the Russian invasion, those who were separated when their parents were sent to a Russian filtration camp, and those who were in institutions. The report concluded: In March 2026, a UN inquiry found Russian forces guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, consisting of forcible transfer, deportation and enforced disappearance. Ukraine The Ukrainian charitable organization "Save Ukraine", which was established in 2014, it has been instrumental in rescuing and rehabilitating displaced persons and abducted children during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ==See also==