A United Nations investigation has formally concluded that Russia's forced deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied territories amounts to crimes against humanity and war crimes — findings that implicate President Vladimir Putin directly and by name.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, publishing its report on March 10, examined 1,205 confirmed cases of child abductions and conducted over 200 interviews. The commission concluded the abductions followed "a well-established pattern of conduct, indicating that these acts have been widespread and systematic." The report is scheduled for presentation to the UN Human Rights Council on 12 March.
"The Commission concluded that crimes against humanity and war crimes by Russian authorities have targeted children, who are among the most vulnerable victims," the report states.
The commission documented deportations beginning in the days before Russia's full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, when authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics ordered the evacuation of all institutions holding children without parental care. Between 16 and 18 February 2022, hundreds of children were transported across the border into Russia. The Russian Federation subsequently launched its invasion later that week — after the claimed security threat that justified the "evacuations" never materialized.
Russia has consistently described the relocations as humanitarian evacuations necessitated by conflict. The commission rejected that characterization. Under international humanitarian law, evacuations must be temporary and motivated by compelling health, medical, or safety reasons. According to the report, neither condition was met: the relocations were not temporary, and there was no evidence that health or safety — rather than policy — drove the removals.
Putin's personal involvement, the commission found, was traceable from the start. "The Russian authorities at the highest levels — including Mr. Putin and entities directly answerable to him — have coordinated practical modalities to carry out these deportations and transfers, and to further relocate the children in the Russian Federation. These acts have been committed following a consistent and carefully organized plan and modus operandi, initiated already before the full-scale invasion," the report states.
In May 2022, Putin signed a decree expediting Russian citizenship for Ukrainian children without parental care. During a meeting with Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova — at which she flagged legislative obstacles to permanent placements — Putin responded: "You tell us which ones, we will eliminate them."
Lvova-Belova, who holds arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court alongside Putin since March 2023 for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian minors, played what the commission described as "a leading and pivotal role" in coordinating deportations, organizing transport, and placing children with Russian families. The commission noted she personally accompanied children during transfers and visited foster families. Moscow has rejected the ICC allegations.
Children deported from institutions were first taken to transit centers in Russia's Kursk, Rostov, and Voronezh regions, then gradually dispersed across 21 Russian regions, where they were placed with families or in institutions for indefinite periods. Russian citizenship was systematically granted. Profiles of deported children appeared on Russian adoption databases across 14 regions.
Russian authorities initially made adoption the stated priority. In May 2022, Russia's UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia told the Security Council: "Approximately 1,200 children came from orphanages in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. We work closely with the authorities of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics on the adoption of orphans." Following the ICC arrest warrants in March 2023, Russian officials reversed their public position, with Lvova-Belova telling Russian media: "Children from new regions of Russia are given to families under guardianship, and not for adoption." The commission found evidence that adoptions continued regardless.
In at least two documented cases, children's names and places of birth were changed in official records. One 11-month-old girl from Kherson was adopted by Sergei Mironov, a State Duma parliamentary leader and close Putin ally, and his wife. The commission obtained a copy of the electronic adoption registration, showing the child's original name and Kherson birthplace replaced with a new name and Moscow Oblast birthplace. The girl has two older siblings, a legal guardian, and a biological mother in Ukraine. She has not been returned.
The commission also identified what it termed enforced disappearances as a distinct crime against humanity. In most cases, parents and legal guardians were not informed of their children's removal. Many discovered their children were gone only when they arrived at institutions to visit or collect them. "I called everywhere, I went to all institutions, I asked my relatives in Crimea and Russia to enquire about the whereabouts of my grandson. I found out by myself where he was," one grandmother told investigators.
Four years after the invasion, over 80% of the 1,205 confirmed cases remain unresolved, according to the report. Russia has not established any repatriation system, leaving families to organize returns individually — a process requiring official documents, cross-border travel through active conflict zones, and, in some cases, navigating outright obstruction. In one case, a mother traveling to retrieve her child was told she had failed filtration checks and was denied entry. In another, a grandmother was accused of cooperating with Ukrainian authorities and turned away.
One teenage boy placed with a Russian foster family made multiple attempts to return to Ukraine. On his first attempt, Russian authorities arrested him and, according to the commission, coerced him into making a false statement on camera claiming he had been forced to go back. He later wrote to Ukraine's president requesting help. A relative in Ukraine eventually obtained legal guardianship, and he was able to return.
Children who did return reported psychological trauma, fear of abandonment, and instances of ideological pressure in Russian institutions. One child told investigators that documentaries showing happy placements in Russian foster families "were staged." Another mother said her son, by the time of his return, had forgotten how to speak Ukrainian and told her his favorite song was a Soviet Army march. Staff at one institution reportedly told children: "Your country does not exist anymore, everything has burnt down, and your parents probably died."
Ukraine's national Children of War database has documented 20,000 abducted children since February 2022, though officials believe the actual figure is substantially higher. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets estimates the number at up to 150,000; Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Daria Herasymchuk has put the range at 200,000 to 300,000. Fewer than 2,000 children have so far been returned to Ukrainian families.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry backed the report's publication, calling the findings "new significant evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian law" and urging the international community to increase pressure on Russia to halt deportations, allow access to international monitors, and return the children.
The commission recommended Russia immediately cease deportations, disclose the whereabouts and legal status of all removed children, restore family contact, and facilitate unconditional returns. It also called on Russia to cooperate with a Ukrainian DNA registry intended to help identify and recover children.
