The Russian Federation systematically deports and forcibly transfers Ukrainian children, creates an environment of total coercion for them, destroys their Ukrainian identity, and involves them in the war against their own state. Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said this on November 10 while presenting the third special report on violations of the rights of Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories, UNN reports.
According to him, Ukraine has already documented cases in which citizens who were minors at the time of the occupation later ended up in the Russian army and were captured by Ukraine.
The Ombudsman said that an analysis of the three special reports makes it possible to trace a consistent system of actions by the Russian authorities. Its goal is to establish control over the occupied territories and change the worldview of Ukrainian children so that they can be used in the interests of the aggressor state in the future.
Summarizing the conclusions of both the third special report and the previous two, we can trace a system ranging from the physical occupation of territories to cognitive occupation under conditions of total coercion, aimed at using Ukrainian children in the war against Ukraine today. This system has three components
Stage One: Deportation and Forced Transfer
The first component of this Russian policy is the physical occupation of Ukrainian territories, accompanied by the deportation and forced transfer of children. To this end, the Russian authorities use claims about the need to evacuate, rescue, or provide health treatment to minors as a cover for taking them out of Ukraine. Lubinets recalled that back in the first special report, prepared in 2023, the Ukrainian side concluded that such actions were inconsistent with international evacuation standards and advocated recognizing crimes against Ukrainian children as genocide.
The Ombudsman noted that in March 2026, the Ukrainian side's conclusions regarding the substitution of the concept of evacuation were confirmed in a report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine. According to him, instead of creating mechanisms for returning the children, the Russian authorities sought to ensure their long-term stay in the territory of the Russian Federation, in particular by placing them with Russian families and in specialized institutions.
Stage Two: Total Coercion and the Destruction of Ukrainian Identity
The next component of this system was the creation of an environment of total coercion in the temporarily occupied territories. This includes psychological pressure, threats, humiliation of human dignity, filtration procedures, forced Russian passportization, and the militarization of children.
He added that such detentions may be accompanied by interrogations, psychological pressure, and torture. In some cases, criminal proceedings are opened against family members.
In addition, the occupation authorities persecute Ukrainian families whose children continue to study remotely at Ukrainian schools. Lubinets noted that Russian administrations identify schoolchildren who use Ukrainian educational platforms, after which their parents may face criminal prosecution and prison sentences.
Furthermore, the Russian occupation authorities apply repression not only against adults but also directly against minors. The Ukrainian side already has verified and confirmed data on the detention of children who demonstrated disloyalty to the Russian occupation authorities, as well as on the first cases of their conviction.
A separate area of Russian policy has been systematic interference in education. According to Lubinets, in the occupied territories, Ukrainian children are being forced to accept a Russian interpretation of history, Russian military personnel are being glorified, and a positive attitude toward the Russian army is being fostered. The ombudsman described this process as cognitive occupation, meaning an attempt to establish control not only over territory and the behavior of the population, but also over their thinking, memory, and perception of reality. In particular, he reported the introduction of a new compulsory history textbook entitled "The History of Our Region – Donbas and Novorossiya."
Also, according to the ombudsman, in 2027, students in grades 9–11 in the occupied territories will be required to take an oral history examination, during which schoolchildren will be forced to reproduce Russian propaganda narratives about the war against Ukraine.
Stage Three: Involving Ukrainian Children in the War Against Their Own State
Lubinets called the most dangerous consequence of the long-term occupation the transformation of Ukrainian children into future participants in the war against Ukraine. The Russian system of upbringing involves recruiting minors into paramilitary organizations, in particular Yunarmiya, conducting drill and tactical training, teaching them how to handle weapons, and fostering a willingness to serve in the Russian army.
He stressed that Ukraine already has concrete evidence of the consequences of such a policy. In particular, cases have been documented in which Ukrainian citizens who were minors when their settlements were occupied later ended up in Russian military formations and were captured by Ukraine's Defense Forces.
Lubinets said that he had personally spoken with one of these prisoners of war. He was referring to a native of Donetsk who was 16 years old at the time of the occupation. He later ended up serving in the Russian army and is now being held at a Ukrainian prisoner-of-war camp.
During his conversation with the Ukrainian ombudsman, the young man explained that he effectively had no opportunity to refuse service in the Russian forces.
"No one there has a choice. You are obliged to join the Russian army, or you will automatically be sentenced to lengthy prison terms for espionage," Lubinets quoted the prisoner of war as saying.
The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine clarified in this regard that refusing to cooperate with the occupation authorities may result in lengthy prison sentences for Ukrainians, including more than 20 years, and in some cases even life imprisonment.
As another example of the consequences of Russian policy, he cited the story of a boy born in 2007 who was considered missing for a long time during the occupation. Later, photographs of him in a Russian military uniform bearing the Z insignia and the flag of the Russian Federation were found on social media.
In Lubinets's view, such cases demonstrate the long-term consequences of occupation, when children deprived of the opportunity to grow up in a Ukrainian environment gradually fall under the influence of Russia's military and propaganda system.
Ukraine Calls on International Partners to Strengthen Accountability for Russia
The ombudsman stressed that the aforementioned violations of the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian children in the occupied territories are far from isolated cases and testify to a consistent and centralized state policy of the Russian Federation.
Lubinets called on international partners to increase sanctions pressure both on Russia's senior military and political leadership and on all those involved in the deportation, forcible transfer, militarization, and ideological indoctrination of Ukrainian children.
He also appealed to the parliaments of other states with a proposal to adopt separate decisions recognizing Russia's crimes against Ukrainian children as genocide.
It should be recalled
The UN stated that the war and occupation have caused widespread violations of children's rights in Ukraine.