Ukraine obtains evidence of 42 children abducted from occupied Kherson region by Russia

This was reported by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets.

"Representatives of the Russian-installed occupying administration in Kherson region openly declared the mass placement of Ukrainian children in Russian families. It is known that from 2022 to 2024, 42 children from Kherson region, who had been under occupation since the first days of the full-scale invasion, were transferred into Russian custody," Lubinets wrote.

He emphasized that Russian authorities had long concealed information about children from Kherson region and ignored Ukraine’s demands to provide data on each deported and forcibly displaced child.

In particular, little was known about the children from the Kherson Regional Infant Home. In 2022, staff at the institution hid the children in a church basement to protect them until they were discovered by FSB officers.

"Most of these children had parents or other legal guardians. However, the Russians took them to Crimea and placed them in the 'Elochka' children's home, known for its harsh treatment. Some children's profiles later appeared in Russia's federal adoption database," the ombudsman reported.

He stated that 10 children from the Kherson region are still in a facility in temporarily occupied Crimea, where they are being prepared for "new homes."

Lubinets stressed that such actions are a blatant violation of international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

• In May 2024, it was revealed that Russian-installed authorities had started compiling lists of children from temporarily controlled Ukrainian territories to deport them to Russia. These lists mainly consisted of children without parental care or orphans.
• In June of the same year, the Financial Times reported that at least four Ukrainian children, abducted by Russian forces in the early months of the full-scale war, had appeared on Russian adoption websites.