“We Found Our Daughter”: Russian Woman Whose Son Died in War Brags to Putin About Kidnapping Ukrainian Child

A Russian woman, Olga Dorokhina, took a 4-year-old Ukrainian girl from the occupied Kherson region and now plans to adopt her, according to an investigation by Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne published on March 10.

Dorokhina’s son was previously killed while fighting against Ukraine, the report states.

At a public event, Dorokhina personally told Russian leader Vladimir Putin about taking the child, claiming she had “found her daughter” in Kherson region.

“One of our new initiatives is helping children who have been left without parents in historical territories . There have already been several trips, and more are planned, but during our first trip to Kherson region, we found our daughter. She is now with our family, currently under guardianship, but we are working on it,” Dorokhina said.

The girl is now officially under her guardianship.

At the end of her conversation with Putin, the woman thanked him “on behalf of all Crimeans for the 'Crimean Spring'"—a term used in Russian official rhetoric to describe the events surrounding Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea in 2014. She added that for the families of killed Russian soldiers, Russia’s victory would be the final resolution:

“We are eagerly awaiting victory. I believe our sons will only truly rest in peace when there is peace. But we must see this through to the end; we must not yield to anyone.”

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Suspilne’s investigation identified Dorokhina as a native of Yelets, Lipetsk region, Russia, who relocated to temporarily occupied Crimea in 2016. Her husband, Oleksandr Dorokhin, is a former Russian prison service officer and veteran of the Chechen war, while her eldest son, Vladislav Dorokhin, fought with Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and the 810th Marine Brigade in Ukraine before his death.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, at least 19,500 Ukrainian children have been forcibly taken from occupied territories and transferred to Russia, Belarus, or other Russian-controlled areas, according to Ukraine’s Children of War database.

To date, Ukraine has managed to bring back 1,240 abducted children, according to official data.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for their role in the mass deportation of Ukrainian children.

Human rights organizations have classified Russia’s forced transfers of Ukrainian civilians, including children, as potential war crimes and crimes against humanity.