Ukrainian Children Offered for Sale on Russian Website
Moscow/Kyiv – It’s a nightmare no one wants to imagine. And yet, it’s reality: Ukrainian children are being offered on a Russian website like products in an online shop.with photos,names,age,hair color,eye color – as if they were toys. But these are real children. stolen. abducted.Torn from thier homes.
According to the Ukrainian aid organization “Save Ukraine,” 294 children are currently listed on this site. The NGO describes it as a digital children’s catalog, searchable by age, gender, personality, or health status.The site resembles an online slave market: you can sort by various characteristics, and each child has a photo and a short description. One boy is described as “conflict-free, sociable, diligent” with an interest in sports and “pronounced leadership qualities.” Another child – a girl – is described as “conscientious and responsible,especially in cultural activities.” She is said to have “acting talent,” can sing and dance well, and “recite poetry and prose expressively.”
The children mostly come from occupied Ukrainian territories such as kherson, mariupol, or Luhansk. Mykola Kuleba, head of “Save Ukraine,” calls the website a tool for the “systematic kidnapping of Ukrainian children” and warns that it is indeed “not just about adoption.” he believes the children are being prepared for Russianization and integration into Russian society.
“To call this simply child trafficking is an understatement,” Kuleba emphasizes. “This is a state-sponsored program to deprive Ukrainian children of their identity and their homeland.”
Russia’s Systematic Abduction of Ukrainian Children Continues,Raising Concerns of forced Assimilation
A chilling “catalog” of Ukrainian children available for adoption within Russia has surfaced,highlighting the ongoing and systematic abduction of Ukrainian children since the start of the full-scale invasion in february 2022.The finding, brought to light by Ukrainian activist Mykola Kuleba on social media, underscores the Kremlin’s alleged efforts to forcibly assimilate Ukrainian children into Russian society.
Kuleba’s findings, shared on Instagram, reveal a collection of photographs, each representing a child with a tragic story linked to the conflict. According to Kuleba, many of these children were born before the Russian occupation of the Luhansk region. He states that some children have parents who were killed by Russian forces, while others have been issued Russian documents in what he describes as an attempt to “legalize” the abduction. Kuleba explained on X (formerly Twitter) that these children are not simply orphans; many have living parents and Ukrainian citizenship. some lost their families due to attacks, while others have been abducted and entered into the Russian adoption system under new identities.
This practice is not new. Reports have consistently emerged of Ukrainian children appearing on Russian adoption websites. Last year,the Financial Times identified four Ukrainian children,aged eight to fifteen,on the Russian adoption website usynovite.ru. Their Ukrainian origins were concealed, and they had been taken from state-run institutions. https://www.ft.com/content/9991499a-399f-499f-999f-499f999f499f
The Ukrainian government estimates that nearly 20,000 children have been abducted from Ukraine to Russia as the beginning of the war, with fewer than 400 having been returned as of now. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-nearly-20000-children-have-been-deported-russia-2024-03-15/
These actions have drawn strong condemnation from the international community, with accusations of war crimes and violations of international law. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, in March 2023, specifically for the unlawful deportation and transfer of children from occupied Ukraine to Russia. https://www.icc-cpi.org/news/statement-prosecutor-icc-regarding-situation-ukraine
The ongoing abduction and potential forced assimilation of Ukrainian children represent a grave humanitarian crisis and a meaningful obstacle to future reconciliation between the two countries.