About 400 sites in Russia hold abducted Ukrainian children – Zelenskyy
Ukraine has identified about 400 locations in Russia where around 19,500 abducted Ukrainian children are being held.
Source: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Details: Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that more than 1,600 children abducted by the Russians had been brought back since the start of the full-scale war.
Quote: "By our estimates, there are thousands of them. It is true – about 19,500 abducted [Ukrainian – ed.] children in Russia. We must focus on how to find them. It is very difficult. We are working with different intelligence services."
More details: Zelenskyy added that the Ukrainian side managed to locate about 400 places in Russia where abducted children are being kept.
Quote: "It is a real fact that these people took this child, abducted this child. It is a long and difficult path. Every day, we are finding more and more children. But it is not only about how they were abducted. It is about how to find them. And it is difficult work. And it is very important."
Background:
- Dariia Zarivna, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, reported that Ukraine is searching for 20,000 children who were forcibly deported by Russia.
- A team of experts from Yale University has estimated that around 35,000 Ukrainian children listed as missing may be held in Russia or Russian-occupied territories.
- In June 2024, The New York Times detailed the Russian abduction campaign to deport Ukrainian children from occupied territories.
- Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraine's Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights and Child Rehabilitation, reported that Russia employs a minimum of six scenarios to relocate Ukrainian children to its territory, one of which involves fabricating a medical diagnosis.
- In September 2025, cyber experts from Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) gained access to all computers and servers of the self-proclaimed authorities of temporarily occupied Crimea, enabling them to download information about children deported by the Russians.
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