Russia Abducts 42 Ukrainian Children from Kherson for Forced Adoption

Russia continues to abduct Ukrainian children and pass them off as its own. The occupiers have openly stated that from 2022 to 2024, they transferred 42 children from Kherson region to Russian families.

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

At first, the Russian authorities concealed information about the abducted children, and Ukrainian requests for their whereabouts were ignored. The fate of the children from the Kherson Regional Children's Home was particularly mysterious. In 2022, the staff of the institution tried to save the children by hiding them in the basement of a church. But later they were found by the FSB and taken to Crimea.

Many of these children had parents or guardians, but the Russians forcibly placed them in the Crimean Yalynka orphanage, which has a terrible reputation. Some of the profiles later appeared in the Russian federal database for adoption. According to the latest data, at least 10 children from Kherson region are still in this institution and are waiting for new "parents" in Russia.

Such actions are in flagrant violation of international law, in particular the IV Geneva Convention and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The abduction of Ukrainian children and their forced adoption in Russia is a war crime for which those responsible must be punished!

Meanwhile, prosecutors from the Prosecutor General's Office have brought a case against two Russian citizens suspected of illegally deporting Ukrainian children to court. The accused are a member of the State Duma, a confidant of the leader of the Fair Russia party, and the wife of this politician.

Earlier, Intent wrote that there are about 1.5 million children in the temporarily occupied territories, all of whom are under the threat of deportation.

Also, the lawyer of the Regional Center for Human Rights Kateryna Rashevska said that the re-education of Ukrainian teenagers and youth is very well integrated into the policy of the Russian Federation, and it is carried out by bodies of different levels - federal, regional, occupation and even Ukrainian collaborators

Recently, a program for the return and reintegration of children abducted by Russia, including orphans, was presented in Kherson. This program is being implemented as part of the Presidential initiative Bring Kids Back UA.

Андрій Колісніченко