An international team of investigators has successfully located eight Ukrainian children who were believed to have been abducted during Russia’s invasion. The investigators, consisting of over 60 detectives from 23 countries, used digital open source techniques to trace the missing children who appeared in Russian propaganda. Advanced facial recognition technology was used to find recent images of the children online, as the investigators were unable to travel to Russia or Belarus. Geolocation experts then analyzed photos and videos, using satellite data to determine where they were taken. Network data analysis was also used to establish whether multiple children were in the same location.
The identities and exact whereabouts of the eight children have not been revealed by detectives at Europol, citing potential risks to their safety. However, Ukrainian police will inform the relatives and may open a criminal investigation. The government in Kyiv estimates that at least 19,500 Ukrainian children have been deported and forcibly displaced from their homes since the invasion began in February 2022, with only 388 returning home. The exact number and locations of these children are mostly unknown. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in 2023 for the alleged unlawful deportation of children. Russia denies the accusation and claims to have protected vulnerable children by moving them from the war zone for their safety.
Researchers from Yale University found that children who were deported were often placed in re-education camps or psychiatric hospitals. Russian authorities have made it easier to adopt a Ukrainian child, change their name, and issue them with a Russian passport. Last year, the BBC reported on the difficult journeys of Ukrainians trying to find their abducted children who had been moved deep into Russia. Save Ukraine, a humanitarian organization, has managed to rescue at least 95 kidnapped Ukrainian children and will receive the international Four Freedoms Award in recognition of its achievements. Recently, 18 Ukrainian children who were transferred to Russia and then returned home participated in a recreational camp in Ukraine.
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