The Kherson region is among the top three regions with the highest number of children who have gone missing due to the war

The Kherson region is among the top three regions with the highest number of reported cases of missing children since the start of the full-scale war. The Ministry of Internal Affairs’ registry contains 508 such entries.

This is according to data from the OpenDataBot platform, which analyzed the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ registry of missing persons.

In total, 2,252 entries regarding missing children have been added to the registry since the start of the full-scale invasion. This accounts for 91% of all cases of missing children recorded in the database. By comparison, as of February 24, 2022, there were only 225 such entries.

The highest number of cases was recorded in Luhansk Oblast—875—followed by Donetsk Oblast—673—with Kherson Oblast ranking third with 508 entries. Next are Kharkiv Oblast, where 94 cases were recorded, and Zaporizhzhia Oblast, with 21.

<picture></picture>Infographic by OpenDataBot

The largest spike occurred on February 24, 2022, when 1,292 entries regarding missing children were added to the registry at once. This accounts for more than half of all cases registered since the start of the full-scale war.

In 2022, 1,702 new entries were added to the registry, accounting for 76% of all cases. By 2023, that number had dropped to 330; in 2024, 158 new cases were registered; last year, 51; and in the first four months of 2026, another 11.

Boys account for the majority of missing children—1,233 cases, or 55%. There are 1,019 girls listed in the registry.

Children aged 6 to 13 were the most likely to go missing—there were 1,215 such cases. Another 838 entries concern adolescents aged 14–17, and 199 concern children under the age of six.

However, analysts emphasized that the registry is constantly being updated. If a child is found, the record of their disappearance is deleted, so the statistics reflect only current cases.

Just a few days ago, Intent reported on Oleksandr Mustyats, a young man from Krynok in the Kherson region, who is fighting against Ukraine. However, in the “Children of War” registry, he still has the status of “missing.”

Ірина Глухова