Journalists confirmed the names of 285 Ukrainian children taken to the Russian Federation

Russian opposition journalists prepared a joint investigation in which they confirmed the identities of 285 Ukrainian children stolen by Russia from the temporarily occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

Deported children were placed in institutions in at least 15 Russian regions – the majority in the Oryol, Nizhny Novgorod and Rostov regions. In most of the questionnaires studied by journalists, it is indicated that children can be adopted. These data contradict the statements of the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova.

According to the published questionnaires, the Russians were able to adopt at least 214 deported Ukrainian children whose parents died or were deprived of parental rights. Another 71 children can only be taken into custody. These are children whose parents are in a colony, have limited rights, or whose whereabouts are unknown. Journalists do not know whether children from the data bank are actually given up for adoption.

They also drew attention to the fact that at the time of publication of the questionnaire, the names of 98 Ukrainian children disappeared from the data bank. According to the law, a child is excluded from the lists only in case of transfer to another family, return to parents, coming of age or death.

In 17 cases, the children have already turned 18, and at least four children were returned to blood relatives in the occupied territories, in Donetsk region.

Currently, at least 187 children from the Ukrainian Donbas, who ended up in Russia, are still living in orphanages or studying in colleges, according to the investigation.

Journalists claim that 263 questionnaires of Ukrainian children from Donbas appeared in the orphan database in October and November 2022, shortly after Russia announced the annexation of part of the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.

By the summer of 2023, the database of orphans has increased by 2,400 questionnaires for the first time in six years. But, according to the investigators, it is impossible to unequivocally state that all these children were taken out of Ukrainian regions.

In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the head of the Russian Federation, Volodymyr Putin, and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, who are suspected of illegally deporting children from the territory of Ukraine. Moscow does not participate in the work of the court and declares that it does not recognize its jurisdiction.