Currently, 28 criminal proceedings are being investigated regarding the militarization of Ukrainian children, and 34 individuals have been notified of suspicion. This was announced during a meeting between Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Lohachov and representatives of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism expert mission, Elīna Šteinerte, Hervé Ascensio, and Stefan Wolff, dedicated to Russia's crimes against Ukrainian children, reports UNN with reference to the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Details
As reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General, the meeting focused on the deportation and forced displacement of children, their militarization, indoctrination, forced passportization, illegal adoption, and systemic attempts to erase Ukrainian identity.
Lohachov thanked the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights for their consistent support of Ukraine and attention to the violations of the rights of Ukrainian children in the context of the ongoing armed aggression of the Russian Federation.
The investigation into the deportation and forced displacement of Ukrainian children is one of the absolute priorities of the Office of the Prosecutor General. For us, this is not just a matter of criminal prosecution of specific perpetrators. It is a matter of restoring justice, returning the children, and documenting Russia's systemic policy against Ukrainian identity
Currently, Ukrainian authorities are taking measures to locate more than 20,000 Ukrainian children. Within the framework of criminal proceedings, the deportation and forced displacement of 716 children have been confirmed. Of these, 648 children were forcibly deported to the Russian Federation, and another 68 were displaced within the temporarily occupied territories.
Most of the confirmed episodes concern wards of institutional facilities in the Donetsk and Kherson regions. At the same time, the investigations cover not only the period of the full-scale invasion but also facts of deportation starting from 2014, from the moment of the occupation of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine.
In these proceedings, 25 individuals have been notified of suspicion. Among them are representatives of the Russian authorities, including deputies of the State Duma, servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces, and representatives of the occupation administrations of the Kherson and Donetsk regions.
Special attention during the meeting was paid to the policy aimed at Russia hiding the traces of crimes. This includes changing documents, names, and surnames of children, forced passportization, and illegal adoption.
The Russian Federation is trying not just to take Ukrainian children away. It is trying to change their documents, citizenship, language, education, memory, and self-identification. That is why we are talking about a coordinated policy of assimilation, indoctrination, and militarization
The systemic militarization and indoctrination of Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories were also discussed. According to the investigation, the Russian Federation uses educational institutions, youth military-patriotic movements, cadet classes, propaganda programs, and camps for this purpose.
In particular, Russian educational programs are imposed on children, the Ukrainian language is banned, the history of Ukraine is distorted, loyalty to the aggressor state is formed, and service in the Russian army is popularized.
Currently, 28 criminal proceedings are being investigated regarding the militarization of Ukrainian children, 34 individuals have been notified of suspicion, 12 indictments have been sent to court, and 3 convictions have been handed down. Regarding the facts of indoctrination and the imposition of hostile historical and political narratives, at least 581 criminal proceedings are being investigated, 439 individuals have been notified of suspicion, 421 indictments have been sent to court, and 155 convictions have been handed down
Separately, the parties discussed the possible criminal-legal assessment of such actions as crimes against humanity. This concerns, in particular, signs of enforced disappearances, persecution based on Ukrainian national identity, and other inhumane acts.
The Office of the Prosecutor General maintains constant communication with the International Criminal Court and cooperates with international partners, particularly within the Joint Investigative Team. In March 2024, its mandate was expanded to investigate the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and Belarus, forced change of citizenship, and illegal adoption.
The Office also coordinates work with the presidential initiative Bring Kids Back UA, Europol, international experts, and non-governmental organizations. For the safety of the children and their families, details of this work are not disclosed.
We highly value the work of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism expert mission. We expect that its findings will become an important contribution to documenting crimes against Ukrainian children, protecting their rights, and strengthening international efforts to ensure justice
The Deputy Prosecutor General emphasized that further documentation of these crimes, preservation of the evidence base, and international cooperation are of decisive importance for the return of Ukrainian children and holding the perpetrators accountable.
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