A UN inquiry has concluded that Russia systematically deported and forcibly transferred Ukrainian children, actions that violate international human rights law and amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The commission also found that Russian officials have “unjustifiably delayed” returning children to Ukraine, a separate war crime.
How many children are affected?
Bring Kids Back UA, an initiative led by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has records on roughly 20,570 Ukrainian children believed to have been abducted or transferred. Project leader Maksym Maksymov says those figures reflect only cases with sufficient data and that the actual total is likely higher. Russian statements add to the uncertainty: in 2023 Moscow reported it had “received” 744,000 children and told the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that 46,000 Ukrainian children had been issued Russian passports.
Numbers are difficult to verify. Media reports vary, some returned children mention others missing who do not appear in Ukrainian databases, and Ukrainian authorities have limited access to territory occupied by Russian forces. Ukraine’s prosecutor general says Russian authorities place children with Russian families and in institutions, in violation of the right of families separated by armed conflict to reunification.
Repatriation so far
Ukraine has documented the return of 2,126 children who had been deported to Russia, forcibly moved within occupied areas, or subjected to programs Moscow calls “reeducation.” Maksymov describes two main routes for bringing children home. Mediation involves submitting lists of names and negotiating with Russian officials, but typically yields only small groups — often fewer than ten children at a time. The other method, which civil society groups largely run and which can return larger numbers, is kept confidential for security reasons.
Conditions on return
Returned children are often disoriented and wary of adults, Maksymov says. Many exhibit signs of ideological indoctrination. Those who are not further exposed to “reeducation” on return are provided with reintegration and rehabilitation support to help them recover.
Evolving methods of transfer and assimilation
According to Ukrainian monitors, Russia’s objective of assimilating Ukrainian children has remained constant during the war, but methods have changed. Early large-scale transfers included mass resettlements of children from orphanages to Crimea and Russia. After the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova on charges related to the unlawful transfer and deportation of children, Ukrainian sources say Russian authorities developed a more layered approach. That process reportedly ranges from militarizing children to systematic indoctrination, Russification, and the issuing of Russian documentation to cultivate a Russian identity.
Scale and militarization
An estimated 1.6 million Ukrainian children live in territory under Russian occupation, where Russian curricula have reportedly replaced Ukrainian textbooks and sources. Ukraine’s prosecutor general has said schools and universities in occupied areas have been repurposed to suppress Ukrainian language, history and culture and to promote a pro-Russian narrative.
Authorities point to paramilitary youth movements active in occupied regions — named by Ukrainian officials as Yunarmiya (the Young Army Cadets), Dvizheniye pervykh (the Movement of the First) and Voin (a center for military-sports training and patriotic upbringing) — that train children in weapons handling and require pledges of loyalty to Russia. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko says this is not education but preparation for war. He and other Ukrainian officials allege efforts to expand youth enrollment in such movements to hundreds of thousands by 2030 and say at least 6,000 Ukrainian children were recruited into cadet movements between 2019 and 2025. Some Ukrainians who were reeducated in occupied territory later reached adulthood and fought on the Russian side, according to Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officials.
Legal action and prosecutions
Ukraine has opened cases accusing Russian actors of promoting military service among children and of using education as a tool for assimilation and militarization. Dozens of individuals are reportedly under suspicion, with charges brought against some and two convictions reported so far. The International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for key Russian officials relate directly to the alleged unlawful transfer and deportation of children.
International response
In late 2025 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on returning Ukrainian children, empowering the UN Secretary-General and the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict to request information about children, seek humanitarian access to them and support their safe return. The International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children — a platform of more than 40 countries and organizations — coordinates efforts to locate, repatriate and reintegrate children, and to document and investigate related crimes.
Bring Kids Back UA and other Ukrainian actors have proposed ways international partners can assist, including helping to locate missing children and verifying records to speed repatriation. Meanwhile, the work of identifying children, proving their origins and securing safe returns continues to be hampered by lack of access to occupied areas and by the secrecy surrounding some repatriation operations.
This article was adapted from reporting originally published in Ukrainian and translated from German sources.