Ukraine gathers evidence on Mykolaiv Oblast child abductions

According to the investigation, during the occupation of Novopetrivka village, 15 children remained at the special school: 10 lacked parental care, two were orphans, two were there due to difficult life circumstances, and one had been adopted by U.S. citizens but could not be retrieved due to Russia’s full-scale invasion.

From the onset of the occupation, Russian troops regularly visited the school to monitor the children’s presence and numbers.

In July 2022, the school’s director, concerned for the children’s safety, sought ways to evacuate them to Ukrainian-controlled territory, but Russian forces learned of this plan.

Armed Russian soldiers arrived at the school, interrogated the director, and established armed control to prevent evacuation. The next day, approximately 20 armed Russian soldiers forcibly transported the children, along with the director and her husband, to Stepanivka in the occupied Kherson Oblast, where they were held for three months.

In October 2022, two collaborators, threatening violence, organized the children’s further transfer from Stepanivka to Kherson’s river port, then by boat to Oleshky, and by bus through Armiansk in occupied Crimea to the railway station in Dzhankoy.

There, representatives of Russia’s occupation authorities and emergency services met them, and the children were deported to Anapa in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai by a dedicated train carriage.

The investigation found no objective grounds for the “evacuation.” The school had a bomb shelter, sufficient food, medicine, and hygiene supplies, and the village’s situation remained stable. The children did not require medical attention or additional examinations.

Punishment

The actions are classified as violations of the laws and customs of war, with the forced transfer of civilians, especially children, from occupied territory constituting a grave breach of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and a war crime under international humanitarian law.

Last year, authorities charged Dzhabrail Yusupov, alias Gabriel, a commander of a unit in Russia’s 205th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, which participated in the occupation of Novopetrivka. Under Yusupov’s command, 20 armed Russians stormed the school.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) also previously exposed an occupation official, the “deputy head of the Kherson Oblast’s youth and sports department,” and his accomplice, involved in the abduction.

What's up with the kids now?

All children Were evacuated from Russia to safe locations abroad, with the adopted child now in the U.S. with her guardians.

The investigation revealed that the Russians subjected the children to daily ideological pressure, forcing them to sing Russia’s anthem, participate in pro-Russian events, and banning Ukrainian language and symbols.