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Ukraine Charges Occupation Officials in Donetsk Over Deportation of 35 Children to Russia
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The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Office of the Prosecutor General have issued charges in absentia against the so-called “former minister of education and science of the Donetsk People's Republic ” (DPR), Mikhail Kushakov, and his accomplices for their involvement in the forced deportation of 35 Ukrainian children to Russia.
The SBU reported on April 10 that it had documented new war crimes committed by officials of the Russian occupation administration in temporarily occupied Donetsk. These officials were involved in the mass deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
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The individuals named in the investigation include Mikhail Kushakov, the so-called “former minister of education and science of DPR,” and his two accomplices: Oleksii Kulemzin, the head of the “administration of Donetsk city” under the DPR, and Raisa Prylipko, the director of the Russian-occupied Children’s Home No. 1 “Teremok.”
According to the investigation, on February 18, 2022, under orders from the Kremlin, the accused organized the illegal transportation of 35 children from the Donetsk Children's Home No. 1 “Teremok” to Russia’s Rostov region. The children, aged between 4 and 6, were placed in various social institutions across Russia.
The investigation also revealed that, with the assistance of the top military and political leadership of Russia, 12 Ukrainian children were unlawfully handed over to Russian citizens under the guise of guardianship.
These actions violate Article 49 of the Geneva Convention (IV) on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which prohibits the forcible transfer or deportation of protected persons from occupied territories to the occupying power.
Recently, Current Time, a broadcaster funded by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and The Reckoning Project uncovered that four children, originally taken from a Kherson orphanage in 2022, are currently listed for adoption on a Russian state-operated website.
As of March 2026, the children's profiles were still active on the portal “usynovite.rf.” The listings do not indicate their origins from Kherson or any connection to Ukraine.
For security reasons, the children's identities and personal details have not been made public, though the investigative team has access to this information.
The investigation found that Russian occupation forces took the children from the Kherson orphanage in two separate stages—two children were relocated in September 2022, and 46 others were moved on October 21, 2022. Sources cited in the investigation noted that 10 of the children have been returned to Ukraine, but many others are still placed with foster families in Russia.
In addition, a new study conducted by Yale University has confirmed that Russian state-owned companies Gazprom and Rosneft funded the transportation and “re-education” of over 2,000 Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied areas between 2022 and 2025.
The report revealed that at least 2,158 children from the Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine were relocated to six camps in Russia and occupied Crimea. These included facilities such as Prometey, Signal, Kuban Niva, Art-Kvest, Sputnik, and the A.V. Kazakevich Children’s Health Camp.
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