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Ukraine to Take Russian Child Abduction Case From Mykolaiv Region to International Courts
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Ukrainian law enforcement has completed an investigation into the abduction of children by Russian occupation forces from the Novopetrivka Special School in Mykolaiv region. The evidence gathered will be used in proceedings before both Ukrainian courts and international judicial bodies, the Office of the Prosecutor General reported on August 11.
According to the investigation, during the occupation of Novopetrivka, 15 children remained in the local special school. Ten of them were deprived of parental care, two were orphans, and two had been placed in the institution due to difficult life circumstances. One girl had already been adopted by US citizens but could not be taken to her new family because of the full-scale invasion.
From the first days of the occupation, Russian forces regularly visited the school to verify the presence and number of children.
In July 2022, the school’s director, concerned for the children’s safety, sought ways to evacuate them to Ukrainian-controlled territory. Russian troops learned of these plans. Armed soldiers arrived at the school, interrogated the director, and placed the facility under armed guard to prevent any evacuation.
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The following day, about 20 armed Russian servicemen forcibly transported the children, together with the director and her husband, to the settlement of Stepanivka in Kherson region, deeper into occupied territory. They were held there for three months.
In October 2022, two collaborators, under threat of violence, organized the further relocation of the children—from Stepanivka to Kherson’s river port, then by boat to the town of Oleshky, and subsequently by bus through Armyansk in occupied Crimea to the railway station in Dzhankoi.
At the station, the children were met by representatives of the occupation authorities and personnel from Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations. That same day, they were deported to Anapa, Krasnodar region, in a separate carriage of a passenger train.
Investigators determined there were no legitimate grounds for the so-called “evacuation.” The children did not require medical treatment or additional examinations; the school had a bomb shelter, adequate food supplies, medicines, and hygiene products, and the security situation in the village remained stable.
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, the actions of the accused have been classified as violations of the laws and customs of war. The forcible transfer of civilians from occupied territory—particularly children—constitutes a grave breach of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and is recognized as a war crime under international humanitarian law.
Through the coordinated efforts of Ukrainian law enforcement, international partners, and volunteer organizations, all of the children were removed from Russia and relocated to safe locations abroad.
Earlier, the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children urged Russia to immediately and unconditionally return all children taken from Ukraine. The joint statement was endorsed by 38 countries, along with the Council of Europe and the European Union.
