UN report: Mass deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia classified as crimes against humanity

On March 10, 2026, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine announced a report in which it classified the mass deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia as crimes against humanity. The document details the mechanism of forced transfers, which investigators believe are systematic and organized. Children deported from occupied territories are subjected to aggressive Russification, which includes forced name changes, the granting of Russian citizenship, and placement for adoption with Russian families. The Commission emphasized that these actions lead to the permanent severing of ties with families and homeland, violating fundamental human rights. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine was established by the UN Human Rights Council on March 4, 2022, shortly after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. Its task is to document violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. Previous findings of the commission concerned, among other things, torture, attacks on civilian infrastructure, and extrajudicial executions in Bucha and Irpin.

The scale of the practice, according to Ukrainian estimates, involves nearly 20,000 minors who have been taken not only to the Russian Federation but also to the territory of Belarus. UN experts in their latest investigation focused on the fate of a group of 1,205 children from five different regions of Ukraine. The results of the analysis are alarming, as 80 percent of them have still not returned to their homes or to the care of legal guardians in the country. The report points to the irreversible psychological and physical effects experienced by the victims of these actions, often isolated from any information about their loved ones.

In connection with the forced transfers, the International Criminal Court had previously issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and five other senior Russian officials. Russia consistently rejects these accusations, maintaining that the actions taken are voluntary evacuations aimed at protecting civilians from the effects of hostilities. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called for an immediate end to these practices and for enabling the return of all deported persons. This situation causes particular concern among parents who have been unsuccessfully searching for their children in the Russian care system for months. „Wciąż szukam córki i strasznie się boję, co o mnie pomyśli i jak sobie poradzi w Rosji, gdzie wielu ludzi nienawidzi Ukraińców” (I am still looking for my daughter and I am terribly afraid of what she will think of me and how she will manage in Russia, where many people hate Ukrainians) — Mother searching for her child via TVN24