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Estonia and Ukraine Launch Joint Digital Effort to Track Russian War Crimes and Return Abducted Children
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Estonia and Ukraine are jointly developing highly secure digital mechanisms to document Russian war crimes and help return abducted Ukrainian children, Hromadske reported on November 11.
Estonian Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa-Ly Pakosta told Hromadske that the work focuses on creating secure channels to transfer evidence and apply digital forensic tools.
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Russia has systematically deported and forcibly transferred Ukrainian children from occupied territories since the start of the full-scale invasion, with Ukrainian authorities documenting more than 20,000 cases.
A UN inquiry concluded in 2026 that the removals were systematic and amounted to crimes against humanity, while Ukraine continues efforts to identify the children and return them home.
“One of the projects is about finding cyber-secure ways to exchange evidence of war crimes. The other is digital forensic analysis aimed at returning children,” Pakosta stated.
“These are two areas where many complex challenges still need to be solved,” she added.
According to Pakosta, the reliability of such systems is critical because databases containing information on missing children and evidence of war crimes are prime targets for hostile attacks.
“If we find extremely secure ways to exchange data on Russian war crimes and materials from different registries on missing children, it means we are capable of protecting any sensitive information,” Pakosta told Hromadske.
She emphasized that Russia has a particular interest in attacking such data.
“These are precisely the kinds of data that Russia is extremely interested in attacking. So we are solving issues that are of fundamental importance for democracy around the world,” Pakosta stated.
Pakosta also noted that she plans to visit Ukraine next year.
International efforts to return Ukrainian children have also expanded in recent weeks. On November 2, Slovakia formally joined the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, committing to support efforts to bring back children illegally deported or forcibly displaced by Russia.
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