Children kidnapped from Ukraine are said to be offered for adoption in Russia. As the British daily newspaper “Financial Times” reports, four children were identified with the help of image recognition software and statements from Ukrainian officials and relatives. The victims are said to have been kidnapped from state-run care homes in Ukraine in 2022 during Russia’s war of aggression and offered on an adoption website run by the Russian government. They are between eight and 15 years old.
The Financial Times reports that three children were found in the Tula region (near Moscow) and Orenburg (near the Kazakh border), and one child in occupied Crimea. According to research by the New York Times, 17 other children from a home in Kherson have been found on adoption websites.
The White House described the action as “despicable and appalling.” In a statement, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan wrote: “Russia is not only waging war against the Ukrainian military, but also against the Ukrainian people.” He added: “As the President has said, Russia is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. We will continue to stand with the Ukrainian people and help them defend themselves against Russia’s barbaric war of aggression.”
It often takes months to find the children. Then weeks of planning pass before contact is made. Relatives would have to travel to Russia and be interrogated for hours. A difficult path that some families have already successfully taken. According to official information from Ukraine, at least 389 kidnapped children had been reunited with their guardians by June 11.
Svitlana Popova was also lucky. She was able to bring her 15-year-old daughter back home to Ukraine. She told the Financial Times that her child had been kidnapped by Russian soldiers from the Kherson region and was apparently going to be put up for adoption in Russia. A fake birth certificate “stated that Alina was born in Russia.”
Ukrainian authorities estimate that nearly 20,000 children have been abducted to Russia since the beginning of the Russian invasion. Many thousands are still missing.
