Russia’s deportations of Ukrainian children amount to crimes against humanity, UN inquiry finds

Flowers and toys left on a swing seat to commemorate victims killed in Russia's missile attack on Friday, at a children play area near the damaged apartment buildings, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo)

GENEVA -- A UN investigation found on Tuesday that the deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children by Russian authorities since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of the country in 2022 amounted to crimes against humanity.

“In this report, the Commission concluded that crimes against humanity and war crimes by Russian authorities have targeted children, who are among the most vulnerable victims. These crimes have irreversible consequences on their lives and their future,” according to the report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday.

The report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine studied the cases of 1,205 children from five oblasts, or regions, in Ukraine and said that 80% of them have yet to return to Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities say Russia has illegally deported or forcibly displaced more than 19,500 children to Russia and Belarus in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

U.S.-funded research last year showed Russia expanded its forced re-education programs of deported children.

“The deportations and transfers have originated from various locations across a wide geographic area in Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine, following a well-established pattern of conduct, indicating that these acts have been widespread and systematic,” the UN report said.

Russia denies it is taking children against their will and says it has been evacuating people voluntarily to remove them from the war zone.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Miranda Murray and Thomas Seythal)