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Forced deported/ Europol detectives track 45 Ukrainian children in Russia

2026-04-20 17:20:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Forced deported/ Europol detectives track 45 Ukrainian children in Russia

Dozens of detectives have tracked down 45 Ukrainian children forcibly taken to Russia during an investigative operation organized by Europol.

Europol's effort saw 40 investigators from 18 countries gather in The Hague for two days last week to use publicly available information known as open source intelligence, or OSINT, to find some of the children.

"In total, information about 45 children was uncovered and shared with Ukrainian authorities to assist their ongoing investigations. During this hackathon, investigators relied on various digital tools in their searches, allowing them to track the children's whereabouts. Some of these children have been adopted by Russian citizens, while others are being held in re-education camps or psychiatric hospitals," Europol  said in a statement.

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, tens of thousands of Ukrainian children were forcibly deported to Russia, according to officials and existing records. An international UN investigative commission recently accused Moscow of committing "crimes against humanity" and preventing their return.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights, for alleged war crimes involving the deportation and illegal transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

To date, Ukraine has managed to return around 2,000 children forcibly deported from Russia. Ukrainian authorities have so far confirmed around 20,000 cases, while independent experts and human rights organizations believe the number could be as high as 300,000.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said the true number of children deported is almost impossible to verify. In March, the United Nations said the deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia constitutes a crime against humanity and a war crime. /CNA





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