A Ukrainian NGO has accused Russia of "state-sponsored child trafficking" after a group of administrators in Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine published an online catalog of what they called Ukrainian orphans.
Mykola Kuleba, the head of Save Ukraine, said a database from the Russia-installed administration's Education Ministry in the Luhansk region contains data on 294 Ukrainian children under the age of 17 who have been separated from their parents.
"Russia isn’t even trying to hide it anymore. It’s openly trafficking Ukrainian children," Kuleba said, noting the website shows the names, photos, descriptions of their personalities and hobbies of the children.
The database also has filters for gender, age, eye and hair color, and whether the orphans have siblings.
It was unclear how to access the database, but Save Ukraine published screen grabs of the it.
"The way they describe our children is no different from a slave catalog. This is real child trafficking in the 21st century, which the world must stop," Kuleba added.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv accused Moscow of taking thousands of children from their homeland and sending to areas of the country occupied by Russian troops such as Luhansk, which is now around 99 percent controlled by Russia.
Thousands of others were sent further, spread across Russia itself.
Around 19,546 children have been deported to Russia since the start of the invasion in 2022, and just about 1,399 children have been returned to Ukraine, according to data from Bring Kids Back UA.
Russia has denied committing any crimes with the moving of the children, says it is saving them from the war.
Last month, however, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Russia guilty of implementing an organized system of human rights violations, including the forced deportation of children.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights.
While databases are often used by official state authorities for adoption, the presence of one run by an administration installed during war could indicate a forced adoption program independent from Moscow is operating, which makes it more difficult to track children being taken away from their families.
Luhansk officials were not immediately available to comment.
Kuleba said most of the children in the online catalog were born before Russian troops captured the Luhansk region and had Ukrainian citizenship.
Some have parents who were killed by the occupation authorities, others simply had Russian documents made to "legalize their kidnapping," he added.
"Since 2022, the practice has become widespread and systematic. Initially, Russian authorities tried to cover their tracks—shutting down registries and erasing references. Now, the pretense is gone," he said.
"Let’s be clear: This is not adoption. This is not care. This is digital child trafficking, masked as bureaucracy," Kuleba added.
