Russia changes tactics for deporting Ukrainian children, moving them in smaller groups

Russia continues to remove Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories, but their tactics have changed compared to the first years of the full-scale war.

Source: Maksym Maksymov, the head of Bring Kids Back UA initiative, in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, a Ukrainian news agency

Details: Instead of large-scale transfers, the Kremlin-appointed occupation authorities are increasingly moving children in smaller groups, sending them to "holiday camps", separating them from their parents during filtration procedures and appointing Russian guardians.

As of 18 September 2026, Ukraine had verified 20,651 cases involving the deportation or forced transfer of Ukrainian children, Bring Kids Back UA reported. However, Ukraine does not know the exact number of children Russia has removed or is holding in occupied territories.

Maksymov said only Russia has the full data, which it does not share, while also changing children's personal details.

Quote: "Verifying a single case is a complex and lengthy process: it requires confirming the child's identity, the circumstances of their transfer, the status of their parents and who their legal representative is in Ukraine.

And this has to be done by comparing several independent sets of data because we receive nothing from Russia. That is why the number of verified cases is increasing slowly."

More details: As of 21 September 2026, Ukraine had brought back 2,616 children, Maksymov said. Of these, 673 had returned since the beginning of this year.

The pace of returns also changed this year: 248 children were brought back by the end of May, while another 425 returned between late May and 21 September.

Ukraine does not release return figures by oblast. Maksymov said this is for security reasons, as details about a particular oblast or return operation could put children, their families and experts working on a case at risk and disrupt operations that are still under way.

How has Russia's approach changed?

Maksymov said that in 2022-2023, one of the main methods involved moving children en masse in a single group, including from boarding schools, children's homes and hospitals.

Now, he said, children are moved in smaller groups, while some do not need to be physically taken out of Russian-occupied territories at all.

Other methods now include:

• sending children to Russian "holiday camps"
• sending them to Russia purportedly for "education"
• separating children from their parents during filtration
• appointing Russian guardians
• subsequently placing children under guardianship, with foster families or for adoption.

Quote: "Some of these transfers are presented as supposedly voluntary. Parents are threatened with losing parental rights or having their child taken away if the child does not attend a Russian school, take part in militarised programmes or go to camps.

"So the parents' formal 'consent' is very often the result of coercion rather than a genuine choice."

More details: Maksymov said another mechanism introduced in 2026 is a new requirement concerning guardianship papers. Under the rules he described, guardianship, custody and adoption documents issued before 30 September 2022 must be reissued by the Kremlin-appointed occupation administration on presentation of a Russian passport. If this requirement is not met, a child may be removed from the family and placed in a Russian boarding school or children's home.

Quote: "The child is placed in the care of whoever the occupation authorities appoint. If the parents have been killed, gone missing, are in captivity, have been separated from the child or deprived of parental rights, the occupation administration appoints a Russian legal representative.

From that point on, all decisions concerning the child are made by whoever is effectively responsible for them. If the child is in an institution, its director may act as that representative and, for example, decide that the child will become a Russian citizen."

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