Ukraine successfully brought back five children who had been forcibly taken to Russia as well as Russian-occupied territory, Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak announced on June 12.

The children have been returned home under the President of Ukraine’s initiative, Bring Kids Back UA, according to Yermak.

"We are fulfilling the President's mission — to bring back every Ukrainian child," Yermak said in an statement.

Since February 2022, at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied territories and sent to other Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine or to Russia itself, according to a Ukrainian national database, "Children of War." Only 1,359 children have been returned thus far.

Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights, estimated that Russia has unlawfully deported up to 150,000 Ukrainian children, while the Children’s Ombudswoman, Daria Herasymchuk, puts the figure at 200,000–300,000.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children's Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, citing their involvement in the unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children. Russia dismissed the ICC's decision as "outrageous and unacceptable."

Under orders from Putin, children were transported via military aircraft in 2022, reclassified in Russian databases as native-born, and subjected to pro-Russian re-education before being adopted into Russian families. Ukrainian children had been transported to at least 21 regions throughout Russia.

Child abductions have played a key part of U.S.-Russia peace negotiations — all of which Russia has thus far rejected. Ukrainian officials have named their return as a key condition for any future peace agreement with Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 3 that during the Istanbul negotiations, Russian representatives dismissed the issue of abducted Ukrainian children as a "show for childless European old ladies" and acknowledged deporting several hundred children.

CNN reported on June 11 that the Yale University-based Humanitarian Research Lab, which spearheads the Ukraine Conflict Observatory is preparing to shut down after its funding was terminated by the Trump administration.

A Yale study published on Dec. 3 detailed Russia's systematic program of deporting and forcibly assimilating Ukrainian children.

With only 2 weeks of funding left, US group tracking Russian abduction of Ukrainian children prepares to shut down

“Right now, we are running on fumes,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, told CNN. “As of July 1, we lay off all of our staff across Ukraine and other teams, and our work tracking the kids officially ends.”

The Kyiv IndependentAnna Fratsyvir

The leading U.S.-backed initiative documenting Russia's abduction of Ukrainian children is preparing to shut down after its funding was terminated by the Trump administration, CNN reported on June 11.

The Yale University-based Humanitarian Research Lab, which spearheads the Ukraine Conflict Observatory, has reportedly transferred its data to the U.S. State Department and Ukraine’s government as it closes operations in the coming weeks.

"Right now, we are running on fumes," Nathaniel Raymond, the lab's executive director, told CNN. "As of July 1, we lay off all of our staff across Ukraine and other teams, and our work tracking the kids officially ends."

Since its launch in May 2022, the observatory has compiled evidence of Russian war crimes, including the deportation of Ukrainian children, many of whom were sent to reeducation camps or adopted by Russian families. The project relied on biometric and satellite data and has supported six International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments, including two related to child abductions, according to Raymond.

The database of the observatory contains records on more than 30,000 Ukrainian children allegedly abducted by Russia from over 100 locations, according to an undisclosed source cited by CNN. This figure outstrips estimates by Ukraine's Children of War database, which says that over 19,500 children have been deported or forcibly displaced by Russia.

The program's end leaves what experts call a major gap in accountability efforts.

"The Conflict Observatory’s work cannot be replaced by Europol or other organizations," a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers reportedly wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on June 11, urging the administration to restore funding.

While Rubio temporarily reinstated funding earlier this year to allow the lab to complete data transfers, he confirmed at a March 28 press conference that the program was ultimately defunded as part of government efficiency cuts. The transferred material, including documentation of attacks on civilian infrastructure and filtration sites, is now expected to be shared with Europol within days.

According to Ukraine's Children of War database, only around 1,300 of the abducted children have been brought home so far. Many others remain unidentified due to deliberate efforts by Russian authorities to obscure their identities by altering names and birth records.

Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly emphasized that repatriating abducted children is a non-negotiable condition for any future peace deal with Moscow.

In 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and children’s rights ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova over their roles in the deportation of Ukrainian minors.

As Russia trains abducted children for war, Ukraine fights uphill battle to bring them home

Around the world, abducting a child is a serious crime punishable by years behind bars. But when the kidnapper is Russia, justice remains a distant hope. So does the child’s return home. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has identified over 19,500 children who have been

The Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko

President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 10 imposed sanctions on 48 individuals and nine organizations associated with the deportation of Ukrainian children, according to a decision of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).

Ukraine has documented over 19,500 cases of children who were forcibly taken to Russia, Belarus, or occupied territories since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

According to official figures, only about 1,300 of them have been brought back to areas under Ukrainian control.

The sanctions list includes Sergey Havrilchuk, director of the "Regional Center for Preparation for Military Service and Military-Patriotic Education" in the Russian-occupied Crimea, as well as the head of the regional headquarters of Yunarmiya ("Youth Army"), the state-sponsored youth organization that combines ideological indoctrination with military training for children and teenagers.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) said Havrilchuk was involved in organizing the abduction and illegal deportation of Ukrainian children from the Russian-occupied territories under the guise of "rehabilitation, recreation, and education," and promotes the ideological re-education and militarization of children in Crimea.

Ukraine has also imposed sanctions against Irina Ageeva, the children's ombudsman in Russia's Kaluga Oblast. Ageeva supports and implements the policy of deportation of Ukrainian children, particularly by disseminating information about children taken to Russia, granting them Russian citizenship, and placement in families on the Russian social network Vkontakte, according to HUR.

The list also featured nine Russian organizations, including the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution "Artek International Children's Center." Before the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, "Artek" was a Ukrainian children's camp, but after the occupation of the peninsula, Russia took control of it.

The camp is now involved in the mass abduction, illegal deportation, and forced displacement of Ukrainian children, organizing "rehabilitation, recreation, and education" and spreading information about the "peacekeeping and humanitarian" goals of Russia, according to HUR.

Previously, Zelensky announced on May 25 that three new sanction packages had came into effect, targeting propagandists, criminal networks, and Russian financiers.

Growing up under missiles — Ukrainian childhoods shaped by war (Photos)

Ukrainian children are growing up in a world entirely reshaped by Russia’s war. Sirens, blackouts, and bomb shelters are nothing extraordinary — but a part of everyday childhood. This photo story follows five families as they raise their children in the shadow of the ongoing invasion. It’s not about

The Kyiv IndependentElena Kalinichenko

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that during the Istanbul negotiations, Russian representatives dismissed the issue of abducted Ukrainian children as a "show for childless European old ladies" and acknowledged deporting several hundred children.

"I want our journalists, our people — and not only ours — to understand their attitude toward the humanitarian aspect. First, they told us not to ‘put on a show for childless European old ladies’ — that’s how they phrased it in Russian. That’s their attitude when we raise the issue of the children," Zelensky noted during an online press conference attended by the Kyiv Independent.

During the second round of peace talks in Istanbul on June 2, Vladimir Medinsky, aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and head of Russia's delegation, presented a list submitted by Ukraine containing the names of 339 children it says were abducted by Russia and must be returned.

Medinsky rejected the allegations, denying that Russia had taken the children by force.

Ukraine has documented over 19,500 cases of children who were forcibly taken to Russia, Belarus, or occupied territories since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. According to official figures, only about 1,300 of them have been brought back to areas under Ukrainian control.

These actions have faced widespread international backlash.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and the country's commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, over their alleged roles in organizing the deportations.

More recently, the European Parliament passed a resolution denouncing the deportations as part of a "genocidal strategy" to eliminate Ukrainian identity, calling for the immediate and unconditional return of all abducted children.

"We told them they had stolen 20,000 children, and they responded that it wasn’t 20,000 — at most, they said, it was a matter of a few hundred," Zelensky said. "Our delegation (was) offended by this... Honestly, I’m not. I think it’s more important not to fixate on the number, but on the fact itself — they admitted to taking children. We believe it’s thousands, they say it’s hundreds, but what matters is that they acknowledged the fact."

‘Closer to victory’ – Operation Spiderweb gives much-needed morale boost to Ukrainians after 3 years of full-scale war

A large-scale drone attack carried out by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), which reportedly destroyed or damaged 41 Russian heavy bombers on June 1, brought a much-needed morale boost to Ukrainians. Codenamed “Spiderweb,” the operation targeted the strategic aircraft that Russia uses for long-range missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. The

The Kyiv IndependentLinda Hourani

Eleven more Ukrainian children have been successfully returned from Russian-occupied territories as part of the national "Bring Kids Back UA" initiative, Daria Zarivna, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff and head of the project, said on May 28.

Among those rescued is a young girl whose mother and brother, both defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, spent more than three years in Russian captivity.

"All this time, the mother did not know whether she would ever see her children again. During the exchange, she met her son on the bus, and today she was finally able to hug her little girl," Zarivna said.

Another boy was reunited with his father and brother, both Ukrainian soldiers. The father has been serving on the front lines, while the brother had also been held in Russian captivity for over three years.

Zarivna also said a teenage boy who had been orphaned was rescued from Russian forces. The child had been kidnapped from his school, held in a basement, tortured, and nearly conscripted into the Russian army days before his 18th birthday.

The operation is the latest in a series of rescue missions under Bring Kids Back UA, a national initiative launched by Zelensky to coordinate the return of children abducted during Russia's full-scale invasion.

On May 22, Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak announced the return of nine other children from occupied areas. He described the children as survivors of grave abuse, including a girl whose life was endangered due to lack of medical care, and a boy who was imprisoned in a basement with his mother while Russian forces tortured his father nearby.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has identified over 19,500 children who were forcibly deported to Russia, Belarus, or Russian-occupied territories. To date, only around 1,300 have been returned to Ukrainian-controlled areas, according to official data.

The abduction of Ukrainian children has drawn international condemnation. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of overseeing the forced deportations.

Earlier this month, the European Parliament passed a resolution labeling Russia's actions a "genocidal strategy" aimed at erasing Ukrainian identity, and demanded the unconditional return of all abducted minors.

On May 21, U.S. senators have introduced a resolution urging that no peace deal with Russia be made until all abducted Ukrainian children are returned. The resolution condemns Russia's forced deportation and Russification of Ukrainian minors as an attempt to erase Ukrainian identity.

Kyiv has maintained that the safe return of its children remains a central precondition for any future peace negotiations with Russia.

Because of Russia, my child understood fear early

My daughter is just over a year old. She’s learning to walk, says a few words in both Ukrainian and English, and because of Russia’s war, she already has an acute understanding of what it means to be afraid. The first time she reacted to the air raid

The Kyiv IndependentKate Tsurkan