Abducted children from Kherson found in Russian adoption database

The children from the Kherson orphanage, who were illegally taken by the Russian military in 2022, were found on the Russian state portal for adoption.

This was reported by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets.

According to him, a journalistic investigation found that the profiles of Ukrainian children were posted in an open Russian database. At the same time, the documents do not contain any mention of Ukraine or the true origin of the children.

The Ombudsman emphasizes that this is evidence of Russia's systemic policy of abducting and assimilating Ukrainian children. According to him, the process has several stages: first, forced displacement or deportation, then changing documents, transfer to Russian families, re-education and militarization.

He emphasized that this practice has been going on for years and has signs of violating international law, in particular the IV Geneva Convention, and can also qualify as genocide.

According to the Ombudsman's Office, the Bring Kids Back UA initiative has already managed to bring home 10 children from the Kherson orphanage. In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has returned more than 2,000 children.

At the same time, Lubinets noted, time is of the essence in this process, as children are forced to grow up in a different environment, under the influence of propaganda and without contact with their home country.

Ukraine calls on the international community to increase pressure and join in the return of illegally taken children.

As Intent previously reported, Yale University has published a study on the involvement of Russian state-owned companies Gazprom and Rosneft in the deportation and "re-education" of Ukrainian children.

As a reminder, the UN International Commission of Inquiry concluded that the removal of Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories by Russia is a crime against humanity. In addition, the commission considers the delay in their return to Ukraine a war crime.

Андрій Колісніченко