Stand behind Ukrainian independent journalism when it’s needed most. Help us reach 20,000 members.

Skip to content
Edit post

Ukraine names pro-Russian collaborators suspected of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children

by The Kyiv Independent news desk October 1, 2024 5:19 PM 2 min read
Illustrative image of a woman and her daughter after evacuating from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, May 8, 2022. (Alex Chan Tsz Yuk/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Several Russia-installed proxy officials in occupied Donetsk Oblast have been declared suspected of forcibly deporting a group of 31 Ukrainian children to Russia, Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office announced on Oct. 1.

The Prosecutor General's Office named Denys Pushylin, the Russia-installed proxy head of Donetsk Oblast, and two of his officials, Eleanora Fedorenko and Svitlana Maiboroda, as suspects in the case.

Maiboroda was identified by the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit in their documentary "Uprooted." The team passed on the evidence collected during the making of the film to the prosecutors.

The Prosecutor General's Office expressed gratitude to Ukrainian investigative journalists, including the Kyiv Independent, who conducted investigations into the deportations and passed on their materials.

Russian authorities and their collaborators have illegally deported thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia and placed them in foster families, where they are raised as Russians.

This particular case concerns the deportation of 19 orphans from Mariupol and nine children from the cities of Shakhtarsk and Khartsyzk in Donetsk Oblast. Another three children from Mariupol were taken away from their father at a filtration camp.

The suspects facilitated the deportation of the group of children, the youngest of whom was six years old at the time, from Ukrainian territory.

The transfer of the children "did not meet the requirements of international humanitarian law, as it was not justified by security or health reasons," the Prosecutor General's Office noted.

Kyiv Independent’s investigation ‘Uprooted’ wins international media award
The Kyiv Independent’s investigative documentary “Uprooted” on Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children has won the 2023 Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) award for the Video – Divison I category.

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the children were first taken by bus to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and later taken by plane to Moscow.  

Ukrainian investigators found that the plane used to organize the flight belongs to a particular unit that is subordinate to Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration.

Despite being Ukrainian, the children were issued Russian passports and given to Russian adoptive families.

Among the group was a 17-year-old from Mariupol who was effectively adopted by Maria Lvova-Belova, Putin's Commissioner for Children's Rights and the Kremlin official who allegedly oversees the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for their roles in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.

The three children from Mariupol managed to reunite with their father on their own, while three teenagers were returned to Ukraine by the Ukrainian authorities. The other 25 children remain in Russia.

Independent journalism needs a community —
not a paywall.

We’re working hard to show the world the truth of Russia’s brutal war — and we’re keeping it free for everyone, because reliable information should be available to all.

Our goal: reach 20,000 members to prove independent journalism can survive without paywalls, billionaires, or compromise. Will you help us do it?

Can we reach 20,000 members?

News Feed

11:51 PM

Trump 'very surprised, disappointed' at Russian attacks on Ukraine amid peace talks.

"I've gotten to see things I was very surprised at. Rockets being shot into cities like Kyiv during a negotiation that was maybe very close to ending," Trump said during a news conference in the Oval Office. "All of a sudden rockets got shot into a couple of cities and people died. I saw thing I was surprised at and I don't like being surprised, so I'm very disappointed in that way."
5:10 PM

All territory will revert to Ukraine, predicts US diplomat.

The Kyiv Independent’s Chris York sits down with Michael Carpenter, former U.S. Ambassador to OSCE and senior director for Europe at the National Security Council, to discuss the current lagging U.S. military support for Ukraine amid the ongoing ceasefire talks with Russia. Carpenter also offers his predictions for the future of Ukraine’s occupied territories.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.