Norway boosts support for deported Ukrainian children, detained civilians and POWs
Norway is providing NOK 25 million (€2.3 million) to help trace missing Ukrainians, bring more people home and support children returning after deportation, as Oslo, Ottawa and Kyiv seek to draw greater international attention to deported children, detained civilians and prisoners of war.
The funding was announced during the international conference Pathways to Peace: Returning Ukrainian Children, Detained Civilians, and Prisoners of War, held in Toronto on Sept. 28-29 and co-hosted by Norway, Canada and Ukraine.
“A large number of Ukrainian children are in Russia after being illegally deported or forcibly transferred there. In addition, an unknown number of Ukrainian civilians have been unlawfully detained,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said.
“Both civilians and prisoners of war are being held under extremely difficult conditions. Many families lack information about their loved ones, and the work to bring them home is complicated and resource-intensive.”
Of the new funding, NOK 15 million will go to UNICEF's work to trace missing children and reintegrate children who have returned to Ukraine.
The money is part of a broader new NOK 132 million Norwegian contribution to UNICEF's humanitarian program in Ukraine.
Another NOK 10 million will go to the International Committee of the Red Cross's Central Tracing Agency, which works to prevent people from going missing and help families establish what happened to relatives who may have been captured or killed, or who lost contact after fleeing their homes because of the war.
Norway is separately providing NOK 90 million for the ICRC's broader humanitarian work in Ukraine.
“Norway is now increasing its support for UNICEF and the Red Cross Committee's efforts,” Eide said. “The funds will help trace the missing, bring more people home and support the rehabilitation and reintegration of those affected by the war.”
Norway has provided more than NOK 1 billion to UNICEF's work in Ukraine since 2022, including around NOK 80 million earmarked for work involving abducted children.
It has also provided more than NOK 1 billion to the ICRC since 2022, including NOK 40 million earmarked for the Central Tracing Agency.
Ukrainian authorities have documented the deportation or forced transfer of more than 19,500 children from Russian-occupied territories. As of June 2026, 2,274 children had been returned to Ukraine.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova over the alleged unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.