Mass Abduction of Ukrainian Children by Russia: Evidence, Scale and the Struggle to Return Home

Daria Kasyanova, Head of the Board of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network and Program Director of the SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine charity organization, confirms the systemic nature of the problem of abduction of Ukrainian children. In an interview with theTrumpet , she said that in April 2022, appeals about children remaining in the occupied territories began to be received.

“And over time, we received new information that some children had been moved to the territory of Russia. And, of course, this was not something new for us, because in 2014-2015 we faced such cases. But in 2022, it was a huge number of children who remained in the occupied territories, and it was very difficult to move these children to the territories controlled by Ukraine,” Kasyanova said.

She adds that as of 2022, “we, as SOS Children’s Villages, and then the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, have returned more than 38 children from the territory of Russia together with their parents or legal representatives.” However, according to her, since 2024, it has become much more difficult and dangerous for parents to return children, as “in some cases, parents had a stamp of deportation from the territory of Russia.”

Daria Kasyanova emphasizes that all Ukrainian children who are in the occupied territory (more than 1 million 60 thousand) are at risk of being deported. This is especially true for orphans or those who have lost their parents. In these camps, propaganda and a “military education system” are actively conducted, where children are taught to forget the Ukrainian language and history. “Many children told us about a very large propaganda machine, that these children do not need their country, do not need their parents, and this is not true,” she says.

There is also evidence that older children (16-17 years old) “were involved in some groups or activities, military activities,” and some even received draft notices to join the Russian army. Kasyanova confirmed that there are cases of young people from the occupied territories who were used by Russia as soldiers and died in the war.