Overview

• Ukraine estimates nearly 20,000 children have been abducted by Russia since 2022 with fewer than 400 returned home
• A new Luhansk occupation website lists 294 children with sortable details including age, hair color and personality traits
• Profiles label children as “obedient” or “brave” and note backgrounds such as killed parents or newly issued Russian documents
• Last year’s Financial Times investigation identified four abducted Ukrainian children on a Russian adoption site, revealing a broader pattern of illicit transfers
• International legal experts say forced transfer and adoption of children from occupied territories may amount to crimes against humanity