Child abductions in the Russo-Ukrainian War

Child abductions in the Russo-Ukrainian War
Part of the Russo-Ukrainian War
1,500 Ukrainian children from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia at Yevpatoria, Russian-occupied Crimea, October 2022
LocationRussian-occupied territories of Ukraine
DateEarly February 2022[1] – present
TargetUkrainian children
Attack type
Deaths545[2]
Injured1,304[2]
Victims16,000[2] – 307,000[3] (as of August 2022)
700,000 (as of July 2023)[4]
Perpetrators
LitigationInternational Criminal Court arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova

During the Russo-Ukrainian War,[5] Russia has forcibly transferred almost 20 thousand Ukrainian children to areas under its control, assigned them Russian citizenship, forcibly adopted them into Russian families, and created obstacles for their reunification with their parents and homeland.[6][7] The United Nations has stated that these deportations constitute war crimes.[7][8] The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for President of Russia Vladimir Putin[9] (who has explicitly supported the forced adoptions, including by enacting legislation to facilitate them)[10] and Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for their alleged involvement.[9] According to international law, including the 1948 Genocide Convention, such acts constitute genocide if done with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation or ethnic group.[11][a]

Ukrainian children have been abducted by the Russian state after their parents had been arrested by Russian occupation authorities or killed in the invasion,[12][13] or after becoming separated from their parents in an active war zone.[14] Children have also been abducted from Ukrainian state institutions in occupied areas, and through children's "summer camps" on Russian territory.[12] The abducted children have been subject to Russification;[10][14] raising children of war in a foreign nation and culture may constitute an act of genocide if intended to erase their national identity.[10]

Ukrainian authorities have verified the identities of[15] over 19,000 abducted children,[16] compiling and actively updating the data as part of an online platform: "Children of War". Russian authorities have claimed that over 700,000 Ukrainian children have been "evacuated" by mid-2023,[4] and Ukraine's ombudsman on children's rights believes that the actual number of abducted children may be in the hundreds of thousands.[15] A charitable organisation, Save Ukraine, facilitates the repatriation and family reunification of abducted Ukrainian children.[17][13]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2023-02-14 Conflict Observatory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Діти війни [Children of War]. Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories (in Ukrainian). Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  3. ^ "'Deporting Ukrainian children and "Russifying" them is jeopardizing the future of Ukraine'". Le Monde. 5 August 2022. ISSN 1950-6244. OCLC 833476932. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023. The forced displacement of minors in Russia is part of Vladimir Putin's project 'to erase the Ukrainian identity and nation,' say a group of intellectuals and child psychiatrists, including Bernard Golse and the anthropologist Véronique Nahoum-Grappe.
  4. ^ a b "'Moscow says 700,000 children from Ukraine conflict zones now in Russia'". Reuters. 3 July 2023. Russia has brought some 700,000 children from the conflict zones in Ukraine into Russian territory, Grigory Karasin, head of the international committee in the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, said late on Sunday
  5. ^ Sumlenny, Sergej (27 March 2023). "How the West Tolerated Russia's Kidnapping of Ukrainian Children". European Resilience Initiative Center. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  6. ^ ""Они могут начать противодействовать» Российские власти боятся детей, насильно вывезенных из Украины. Их пытаются «перевоспитать» и поставить под жесткий цифровой контроль. Расследование «Медузы"". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 11 March 2024. Точное число украинских детей, насильно вывезенных за время войны в Россию, неизвестно — по данным Киева, речь идет почти о 20 тысячах.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference 2023-03-16 BBC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2023-03-15 OHCHR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b Borger, Julian; Sauer, Pjotr (17 March 2023). "ICC judges issue arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes". The Guardian. Washington, D.C. ISSN 1756-3224. OCLC 60623878. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023. Arrest warrants issued for Russian leader and his children's rights commissioner for 'unlawful deportation' of Ukrainian children
  10. ^ a b c El Deeb, Sarah; Shvets, Anastasiia; Tilna, Elizaveta (13 October 2022). "How Moscow grabs Ukrainian kids and makes them Russians". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  11. ^ Borger, Julian (27 May 2022). "Russia is guilty of inciting genocide in Ukraine, expert report concludes". The Guardian. Washington, D.C. ISSN 1756-3224. OCLC 60623878. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2023. Report by 30 internationally recognised scholars finds 'reasonable grounds to conclude' Moscow in breach of Geneva Convention
  12. ^ a b Koshiw, Isobel (17 March 2023). "Putin's alleged war crimes: who are the Ukrainian children being taken by Russia?". The Guardian. Kyiv. ISSN 1756-3224. OCLC 60623878. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023. What we know about the children behind the indictment of Vladimir Putin and his children's commissioner for abduction
  13. ^ a b Cookman, Liz (17 April 2023). "The Kids Aren't Alright". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  14. ^ a b Bubola, Emma (22 October 2022). "Using Adoptions, Russia Turns Ukrainian Children Into Spoils of War". The New York Times. ISSN 1553-8095. OCLC 1645522. Archived from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023. Thousands of Ukrainian children have been transferred to Russia. 'I didn't want to go,' one girl told The New York Times from a foster home near Moscow.
  15. ^ a b "Ukraine's abducted children: 'List of suspects will grow' – DW – 03/25/2023". dw.com. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  16. ^ "Children of war". childrenofwar.gov.ua. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  17. ^ Barnes, Julian E. (25 April 2023). "The Group That Searches for Missing Ukrainian Children". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 May 2023.


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