DISINFO: Russia is facilitating the reunification of children with their families in Ukraine
SUMMARY
Russia allows any child to be reunited with their relatives in Ukraine or other countries, provided they have the appropriate rights. The family has every opportunity to be reunited. As part of the Commissioner's work on reuniting families separated or unable to be reunited during a special military operation, each case is considered individually, taking into account the best interests of the children and their views, in accordance with international legal norms.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative aimed at diverting attention from Russia’s documented abduction of Ukrainian children.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine in March 2026 has concluded that Russian authorities have committed the crime against humanity of enforced disappearance of the children deported or transferred from Ukraine, and the war crime of unjustifiable delay in their repatriation. From the cases investigated by the Commission, 80 per cent of the children have not yet returned. Those who managed to organise returns encountered obstacles, delays, and security risks. Many parents and legal guardians remain unaware of the fate and whereabouts of the children and are still searching for them.
The evidence collected indicates that the deportations and transfers of children are large-scale and systematic in nature and are carried out as part of an organized policy of Russia. The Commission established that the Russian authorities not only transferred children from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, but also created conditions for their long-term placement in the territory of Russia, including through placement in foster families or adoption, as well as granting them Russian citizenship.
Thousands of children have been deported to Russia or transferred to occupied areas in Ukraine by Russian authorities, according to the Commission. It has so far verified the deportation or transfer of over 1,200 children from five regions in Ukraine.
Ukraine has been able to record more than 20,570 cases of deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children by Russia, although the true figure is likely to be much higher because Russia frequently targets vulnerable children without anyone to speak for them. Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab placed the number of deported children closer to 35,000.
Another 1.6 million Ukrainian children remain under Russian control – deported, forcibly transferred, or trapped in temporarily occupied territories. As of May 2026, 2133 children have been returned to Ukraine from deportation, forcible transfers, as well as temporary occupation.
On 3 December 2025, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding that Russia immediately, safely and unconditionally return all illegally displaced and deported Ukrainian children. The General Assembly also called on Russia to immediately cease any further practice of forced displacement, deportation, separation of children from their families and legal guardians, changes in their personal status, including through the granting of citizenship, adoption or placement in foster families, as well as the practice of ideological indoctrination.
In June 2023, the United Nations added Russia to its list of countries that violate children's rights.
On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Russia's children's ombudsman Lvova-Belova. The ICC stated that the court has compelling evidence that Putin and Lvova-Belova are responsible for the abduction and illegal deportation of Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine. These abductions have been documented also by the United Nations, OSCE, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Russian and international journalists, as well as by Russian official’s own admission.
Also see similar cases claiming that Ukrainian organisation abandons children forcibly taken from their families, that Ukrainian structures such as White Angel kidnap children from Donbas to accuse Russia, Child trafficking in Ukraine: few rescued, many missing or Ukrainian children are being sold on the Dark Web for sexual slavery and organ harvesting.