Philanthropist detained in Odesa region on suspicion of child trafficking

The Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office has served three members of a criminal group with a notice of suspicion of illegally transporting Ukrainian orphans and children deprived of parental care to another country for future adoption.

According to the press service of the prosecutor's office, the suspects are two Ukrainian citizens - a 39-year-old and a 47-year-old translator, as well as a 49-year-old founder of a charitable organization, who was notified of suspicion in absentia.

According to the investigation, they produced forged documents, facilitated the adoption of illegal decisions by guardianship authorities and organized the departure of children abroad, receiving monetary rewards from foreign citizens through international payment systems.

The group members also recruited 13 other men and two women to carry the children abroad.

The scheme was implemented through so-called hosting - short-term trips of children to foreign families for summer or winter vacations under the guise of rest and recreation. This time was actually used to introduce foreign families to Ukrainian children and to select potential adoptive parents.

Despite the ban on intercountry adoption during martial law, the participants continued to move children after 2022. According to the investigation, the scheme operated until early 2025. In April of this year, the traffickers were exposed and detained.

In total, the criminals tried to illegally transfer at least 25 children from Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Cherkasy regions, 13 of whom were taken to a foreign country.

The criminal activities were stopped due to joint measures of Ukrainian and foreign law enforcement agencies, including the cancellation of entry permits by the foreign party.

The members of the criminal group are charged with human trafficking, illegal transportation across the state border and forgery of documents. At the request of the Prosecutor's Office, two female suspects are in custody.

The involvement of officials from children's services, local government executive bodies and boarding schools in different regions in the criminal scheme is currently being checked.

Кирило Бойко