russia Keeps Abducting Ukrainian Children from the Temporarily Occupied Territories Under the Guise of “Health Improvement”

The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine has received information from sources about yet another abduction of Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories.

This summer, children from one of the orphanages in the occupied part of Donetsk region were taken to russia, ostensibly for “health improvement”. Not all of them returned. At least two children were placed in foster care and transported to moscow region.

The scheme is well-established. Children are taken away under the pretext of recreation, rehabilitation, or participation in cultural and educational events. Then some of them are not returned. The occupying administrations, russian child welfare agencies, and the organizers of such trips are all involved in the abduction of children. Upon arrival in the rf, the children come under the control of local authorities, who can determine their future place of residence and legal status. The fate of the two children in question is currently being found out.

At the same time, the problem is much broader. A system of child exploitation has developed in russia that has both a state-sanctioned and a criminal dimension. The state-sanctioned dimension includes, in particular, the use of children for labor in defence industry enterprises or their potential recruitment by russian special services. The criminal one involves sex trafficking, human trafficking, illegal organ transplantation, and other forms of exploitation.