High-ranking Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, were directly involved in ordering the forced transfer, accommodation, and subsequent adoption of Ukrainian children displaced from war zones and Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine, according to American researchers.
In a report published by researchers from Yale University, it was stated that at least 314 Ukrainian children were subject to a “systematic program of compulsory adoption and forced relocation” by Russian individuals and families.
“The Russian Federation is involved in a systematic, deliberate, and widespread forced adoption and transfer of children from Ukraine,” the report stated. “The operation… was initiated by Putin and his subordinates with the aim of ‘Russifying’ Ukrainian children.”
These findings add to the mounting evidence suggesting that Putin and other high-ranking officials may be involved in war crimes.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin for “war crimes related to the illegal deportation” and “illegal transfer” of children from Ukrainian territory to Russia. Russia’s Children’s Commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, was also accused.
Researchers from Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, whose work is partially funded by the U.S. Department of State, have documented the following since 2022:
- Russian Air Force and Presidential Office aircraft were used to transport children to Russia;
- Ukrainian children were kept in Russia for months, enrolled in Russian schools, and later added to databases for child accommodation;
- Some Ukrainian children appear in Russian databases as if they were born in Russia, not Ukraine;
- Russian citizens who took legal guardianship of Ukrainian minors were “encouraged” to apply for Russian citizenship for the children under their care;
- Ukrainian children were subjected to “pro-Russian re-education” in Russian state institutions.
According to the report, most of the Ukrainian children registered in Russian databases come from Donetsk, an eastern Ukrainian region that has been partially occupied by Russian forces and their allied forces since 2014.
The Kremlin has declared the annexation of Donetsk and three other Ukrainian regions—Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson—along with the Crimean Peninsula. Only Syria and North Korea have recognized this move.
Russian representatives often present their efforts as a humanitarian gesture, claiming to shelter, feed, or protect children from the war or the collapse of services in the occupied regions. However, in many cases, Russian authorities have done little to identify the parents, relatives, or legal guardians of the Ukrainian children.
According to official Ukrainian data, by July 24, 2024, 19,546 children had been deported from Ukraine to Russia since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner stated last month that 1,012 children have been returned from Russia so far.
On December 4, 2024, the U.S. State Department announced that it was imposing visa restrictions on five Russian officials who support or are appointed by Russia, in response to their involvement in human rights violations in Ukraine, including the forced deportation of children.
“Many of these children have had their identities changed, their origins obscured, subjected to pro-Russian indoctrination and militarization, or have been adopted by Russian families,” said the U.S. State Department.
The State Department did not identify the five Russian officials but added that Russian authorities have created obstacles preventing the return of these children to Ukraine.
“Russia’s continued disregard for its international legal obligations to report the whereabouts of these children makes it impossible to ensure their safe return,” stated the U.S. Department of State.
— REL
