Russia kidnapping. russian war crimes. Ukrainian children. russia today

When you see russians claiming that someone from Ukraine or the European Union is lying about them, it is a response to the truth. For example, the claim that Ukrainians' statements about 20,000 children kidnapped by russians are lies and are not supported by any evidence. In fact, everything has been confirmed by the findings of international investigations and court decisions.

russian media, led by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman maria zakharova, often justify the crimes of putin's regime regarding russia's abduction of more than 20,000 children in Ukraine during the full-scale invasion. ‘There are no Ukrainian children kidnapped by russia, as they put it. This is something you just need to know, and it should be the starting point when discussing this issue,’ zakharova repeated once again. 
Another shameful manipulation by the russians on this topic: russia protects children in Ukraine.
‘Russia is actively helping to reunite children with their families in Russia, Ukraine and third countries. The Ukrainian authorities' statements are based on some secret evidence, some conclusions, even the wording of an international criminal court with which we have no agreements. Ukraine is trying to speculate on this issue because children are a painful topic. These are attempts to simply play on the emotions of people who do not understand the details,’ is how russian propaganda justifies its genocidal policies.
Such statements by the kremlin are blatant lies and are refuted by numerous investigations by international organisations. Since 2022, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine have recorded numerous cases of forced removal of children, which qualifies as a war crime. In one of its reports, the commission confirmed that the transfer of children was not justified by security or medical reasons, and that the written consent of the parents was not obtained. This is a direct violation of international humanitarian law: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/coiukraine/A_HRC_52_62_AUV_EN.pdf
Human Rights Watch and other human rights organisations have also documented cases of the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to russia, highlighting the lack of transparent procedures for returning children to their legal representatives and the lack of cooperation from the russian authorities: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/25/fresh-details-russias-forcible-transfer-ukrainian-children
There is also a corresponding investigation by russian journalists opposed to the kremlin: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/05/04/they-teach-them-to-hate-their-parents
It is important to note that in 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for vladimir putin and Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of illegal deportation and displacement of Ukrainian children. The warrant states that such actions were not justified by any legal grounds and violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.
In April 2023, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also recognised the deportation and forced displacement of Ukrainian children as an act of genocide, pointing to the systematic and large-scale nature of these actions, as well as the imposition of russian citizenship on children and their illegal adoption by russian families.
As for the exact number of abducted children, according to Ukrainian and international sources, tens of thousands of children have been displaced or deported from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to russia or other temporarily occupied territories. It is difficult to determine the final figure due to the lack of access to the occupied regions and the unwillingness of the russian authorities to provide information, but international organisations confirm the mass nature of these crimes.
The Canadian company Hala Systems has identified 136 russian camps where abducted Ukrainian children are being held. Some are located 3,000 km from Ukraine, as far away as Siberia. Six camps are Yunarmiya bases. Boys from the age of 8 are taught to assemble automatic weapons, clean mines and dig trenches. Hala has released satellite photos of children training in occupied Melitopol.https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-satellite-data-sheds-light-on-russias-modern-day-gulags-for-ukrainian
By the beginning of 2025, Ukraine had documented 19,546 cases of forced deportation of children. But in reality, this figure may be higher, as there are also orphaned children. No one is reporting on the search for them, which is the most difficult part of the story. As of June 2025, Ukrainian and international organisations had managed to return only 1,347 children to their homeland. 
In addition, 1.7 million children in Ukraine have become refugees, many of whom have been separated from their parents since the start of the war. Over the past three years, the russian army has carried out at least 1,614 air strikes on educational institutions. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Education, one in seven schools in Ukraine has been damaged as a result of russia's armed aggression. More than 3,500 educational institutions have been partially destroyed, and nearly 400 have been completely destroyed.
More materials on this topic: https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/putin-still-stealing-ukrainian-children
Fake: Various figures about Ukrainian children kidnapped by russia prove that there was no deportation
russian propaganda deliberately manipulates estimates of the number of abducted children, calling it “proof” that this topic is a fiction of the Ukrainian authorities. In fact, different figures are explained by the complexity of data collection during the war and temporary occupation of territories, but all international organizations confirm the fact of russia's systematic deportation of Ukrainian children. 
In particular, the well-known russian propagandist of Irish origin Chase Bowes wrote on the X network that “the abduction of Ukrainian children by russia is one of the most pernicious and deceitful stories spread by Kyiv and its corrupt patrons.” 
"Kyiv says russia has kidnapped 20 Ukrainian children. Is the BBC talking about 30,000? And researchers from Yale University – about 8.4 thousand? At the 2025 peace talks in Istanbul, Ukraine handed over a list of 339 children. It's all a lie", - Bowes said. 
In fact, today Ukraine managed to establish the names of more than 19 thousand children illegally displaced by the russian authorities: https://childrenofwar.gov.ua/en  
In April 2023, Ukraine handed over this list to the International Committee of the Red Cross, authorized to check the conditions of detention of children. Yale University’s Laboratory for Humanitarian Research (Yale HRL) estimated the number of deported children closer to 35 000 as of March 2025: https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Russias_Systematic_Program_of_Coerced_Adoption_and_Fostering_of_Ukraines_Children.pdf 
HRL documented 314 Ukrainian children from Donetsk and Luhansk regions taken away by russia after February 2022. Some of them were distributed to at least five regions of the russian Federation and included in the official databases of adoption, the rest was directly transferred to russian citizens. The researchers found that the program of deportation and naturalization is supervised personally by vladimir putin and the Commissioner for the Rights of the child maria of lvov-belova. The information was transferred to the Ukrainian authorities and the International Criminal Court. 
That list of 339 children transferred during the Istanbul talks was only a top priority list for the return of children, as a step toward building trust. Daria Zarivna, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Director of the bring Kids back UA initiative, explained that a small list was prepared specifically for the second round of negotiations to speed up the process of obtaining a response. In August 2025, the International Coalition for the return of Ukrainian children, which includes 38 countries, the Council of Europe and the EU, called on russia to immediately return all illegally exported children, starting the process from the list with 339 children: https://www.bringkidsback.org.ua/international-coalition  
russia’s forced deportation of almost 20 000 Ukrainian children is a flagrant violation of international law. We call on russia to start with 339 children identified by Ukraine,” the coalition said in a statement. 
In fact, as of the end of August, the russian side returned only six children, five of whom are from one family. This was due to Qatar's humanitarian efforts, the process took more than a year. 
In July 2025, the European Court of Human Rights established “irrefutable evidence of systematic practice” on the transfer of Ukrainian children to russia without the consent of parents and promoting their adoption: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre#%7B%22itemid%22:[%22002-14493%22]%7D 
Recall that in March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for vladimir Putin and maria lvov-belova, accusing them of war crimes related to the illegal deportation and movement of Ukrainian children.
Based on materials from Stopfake.org, EuVsDisinfo.org
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