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
Based on materials from Stopfake.org, EuVsDisinfo.org
Read also facts about how russia uses children to create weapons.