Putin’s Military Planes Used to Deport Ukrainian Children, US Researchers Say

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration used government planes and resources to illegally deport Ukrainian children, according to a report by the Yale Humanitarian Research Laboratory (Yale HRL), as cited by Reuters on Wednesday.

The report provides detailed evidence of a systematic Kremlin program to adopt and assimilate Ukrainian children into Russian society forcibly.

Between May and October 2022, Russian military transport planes under Putin’s direct control transported groups of Ukrainian children, the study reveals. On Sept.16, 2022, children abducted from occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions were flown to the Chkalovsky military airfield near Moscow on a Tu-154M aircraft operated by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale HRL, stated that the findings back up charges brought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Putin, accusing him of forcibly displacing children from one ethnic group to another. The deportations, he says, are part of a broader Kremlin plan to erase Ukrainian identity.

Over 20 months, researchers tracked 314 deported Ukrainian children. Of these, 148 were listed in Russian adoption databases, 42 have been adopted or assigned Russian guardians, and another 166 were placed with Russian families. Many were institutionalized first, then moved into Russia’s adoption system.

These findings come after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s children’s commissioner, for their roles in the forced deportations.

Other Topics of Interest

Ukraine Dismisses Reports of Orders to Secure Kursk Until Trump Takes Office

The US president-elect pledged to promptly resolve the Ukraine war, claiming he would efficiently negotiate a ceasefire agreement between Zelensky and Putin.

Ukrainian officials say Russia has deported at least 19,546 children since the war began, with thousands more unaccounted for.

The European Parliament warns the actual number of deported Ukrainian children could be as high as 300,000. Evidence suggests Russia started this practice back in 2014 after occupying Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine.

Lvova-Belova even bragged in 2023 that more than 700,000 Ukrainian kids have been taken to Russia since the invasion began.