Russia May Have Deported Far More Than 19,00 Ukrainian Children
The number of Ukrainian children illegally deported to Russia could be much higher than current official estimates, according to Daria Zarivna, Chief Operating Officer of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, The Gaze reports, citing Ukrinform.
Speaking on Ukrainian television, Zarivna said:
“We currently have information about 19,546 children who were illegally deported or forcibly transferred. At the same time, it’s important to understand that this number may be much higher, because in 2022, Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova cited a figure of 744,000 Ukrainian children taken to Russia.”
Zarivna noted that after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lvova-Belova, Russia stopped publicly releasing figures, making it “very difficult to determine the actual number.”
She also drew attention to the 1.6 million Ukrainian children living under Russian occupation:
“They are subjected daily to indoctrination, militarization, and ideological brainwashing. This is also a very important number we must keep in mind when we talk about this issue.”
Zarivna further cited 2,245 children listed in Ukraine’s special register of missing persons under extraordinary circumstances — in this case, war.
“It’s important to understand that forcibly displaced or deported children can also be considered missing. This register, managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, shares data with the Ministry of Justice’s deported children register,” she explained.
Zarivna stressed that the core challenge lies in Russia’s refusal to cooperate:
“Russia does not provide any information about these children — neither to us nor to any international organizations. And this is the key problem when it comes to verifying numbers and locating missing children.”
As The Gaze previously reported, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has officially begun reviewing a case concerning the adoption of Ukrainian children by Russian citizens in Crimea, a region under temporary Russian occupation since 2014.
Additionally, on 9 April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe supported a resolution to hold the Russian Federation accountable for its aggression against Ukraine, with 100 votes cast in favor of the document.