Russia Abducted Over 16 000 Ukrainian Children – Vladimir Putin’s Most Cruel Crime

Russia which forcibly removed over 16 000 children from Ukraine, is implementing a plan to genocide the Ukrainian people. Kidnapped children are deprived of their citizenship, contacts with relatives are hindered, they are Russified and trained to fight with Ukrainians, – said the Ukrainian Ombudsman for Children’s Rights, Daria Herasymczuk.

„The Russians entered Ukraine with a perfectly prepared plan, they knew what they wanted. They want to annihilate the Ukrainian nation, which is why they kill children, use sexual violence against them, kidnap them, give them up for adoption and change their citizenship. This is a planned policy of genocide of the Ukrainian people” – Daria Herasymczuk declared.

According to official documented data from the Ukrainian side, the Russians took 16 226 children from Ukraine. Only 308 of them have returned to their families in Ukraine so far.

However, we are not talking about thousands, but hundreds of thousands kidnapped children. The Russian side gives the number of 738,000 of allegedly evacuated children, but everyone understands perfectly well that this is not an evacuation, but a forced deportation – she declared.

The fate of many children is unknown because the part of Ukrainian territory is still occupied. Herasymczuk believes that after liberation, the number of kidnapped and taken to Russia children will increase. „Unfortunately, the number of children killed and injured will also increase” – she admitted.

Ukrainian children who end up in Russia, are usually children from orphanages and war orphans. These are also children taken away from their parents who were detained by Russian occupation authorities.

„These are mostly parents who do not agree to collaborate with the occupiers, for which they are punished with deprivation of parental rights. Children who do not have parents but have siblings or relatives who can take care of them are also taken”– she said.

Children from orphanages are transported en masse. Russia does not agree to their return evacuation to their homeland, which is what the Ukrainian side is striving for – Herasymczuk explained.

„The Russians do not agree to any humanitarian corridors so that we can take them to Ukraine-controlled territory. These children are first detained in the occupied territories, and later end up in Russia”– she pointed out.

Russian authorities also take children away, offering their parents to take them for treatment or rest in their country. „However, we know the cases where parents were intimidated that if they did not agree to such a trip, they would be deprived of parental rights. Some of these children also do not return to their families” – she noted.

According to the Ukrainian Ombudsman for children’s rights, the Russians make it difficult for kidnapped children to contact their relatives in Ukraine. They take away their phones, they do not let them inform their families about their place of residence. „They tell the child that if no one claims it, it will be put up for adoption”- she said.

Children who are taken to Russia are subjected of Russification. They are forbidden to speak Ukrainian and are fed with Russian propaganda – Herasymczuk revealed. „Ukrainian children are also placed in military camps (Russian paramilitary organization) Junarmia. This is the highest measure of cynicism because Ukrainian children are being prepared there for war against their own people” – she said.

According to spokeswoman, the Russians knowingly violate the rules of international law regarding the adoption of children. This is done with the consent of the highest authorities in Moscow.

„The Plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Bielova, publicly says that she adopted a boy from Mariupol, whom she took from there herself. We have testimonies of children who managed to recover and who personally spoke to Lwowa-Bielova, told her that they wanted to return home, had family and parental contacts, but were nevertheless sent to a foster family,” she said.

In search for abducted children, their families are primarily involved, and they can count on the support of Ukrainian state institutions and international organizations. If you contact such a child, someone close to you goes to Russia to collect it.

„Children come back with deep traumas. After their return they receive psychological and medical help. Many of them need treatment after injuries sustained as a result of hostilities” – Ukrainian spokeswoman explained.

„For every country, children are the future. The Russians are trying to steal our future by kidnapping our children. That is why we will fight for each child regardless of where the child is” – Daria Herasymczuk ensured in conversation with PAP.

This is the largest forced deportation in modern history – this is how Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the transfer of thousands of children from Ukraine to Russia. During the session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva (February 27, 2023), Kuleba made a statement via video links in which he said that “the most chilling crime is the fact that Russia is stealing Ukrainian children”. He added: “It is a crime of genocide. According to researchers from the American Yale University, at least 6,000 Ukrainian children are in centers in the occupied Crimea and other Russian regions. The researchers’ report indicates that minors are subjected to forced political re-education. At least 43 camps for Ukrainian children have been identified, which is the greater part of the re-education system introduced after February 2022 last year.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that before the full-scale invasion, Russia planned to filter and deport Ukrainians in occupied territories – similar to the methods used during the Chechen wars.

The European Commission has announced that it is launching an initiative with Poland on Ukrainian children kidnapped to Russia. The goal is to find them and bring to justice those who are responsible for the abduction. “The EC is launching together with Poland, under the leadership of the head of the EC Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, an initiative concerning Ukrainian children. „I am aware of the dramatic situation of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and sent to Russia for adoption. It is estimated that since the beginning of the invasion, Russian forces have sent thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia” – said EC spokeswoman Dana Spinant at a conference in Brussels.

On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Russia Maria Aleksiejewna Lwowska- Belova.

As stated in the statement of the ICC Vladimir Putin is to be responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of the people (children) and illegal transfer of people (children) from the occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. “The crimes were allegedly committed in the occupied territory of Ukraine from at least February 24, 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, for committing acts directly, jointly with others, … or allowed those acts to be committed and who were under his effective authority and control, in accordance with the responsibility of the superior (Article 28b of the Rome Statute),” it can be read in the ICC statement.