Copyright kyivpost
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the country’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU) is finalizing a detailed list of 339 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia – along with the individuals and institutions responsible for their deportation – which will lead to the imposition of sanctions on those involved. During a press briefing, Zelensky said the SZRU is gathering verifiable evidence that will be difficult for Russia to deny. “The Foreign Intelligence Service has a list of 339 children. Beyond locating them, I’ve asked our intelligence to provide data that is indisputable for the Russians,” Zelensky said. “Within a week or two, we’ll have a document listing all 339 children – with addresses, names, and the institutions that took them and tried to erase their identities.” The president said that Kyiv will seek international sanctions against everyone, and every entity named in the forthcoming report. “It’s crucial that those responsible – individuals and institutions – face the consequences,” Zelensky added. Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow of orchestrating a systematic campaign to deport Ukrainian children from the occupied territories, a move widely condemned as a war crime by international organizations. Earlier Kyiv Post reported that Russia’s occupation authorities have forcibly placed 48 Ukrainian children in the occupied Donetsk region in psychiatric institutions because of accusations of “extremist behavior.” According to data from the self-proclaimed “DNR” [Donetsk People’s Republic], these 48 children were some of the161 minors that have faced criminal charges with many being subjected to administrative penalties, including fines. The so-called “psychiatric therapy” involves compulsory confinement in mental health institutions, a practice widely condemned as a form of punishment and coercion. This echoes Soviet-era abuse, where dissidents and activists were declared mentally ill and confined to psychiatric hospitals as a way to silence opposition. According to several humanitarian organizations more than 19,500 Ukrainian children have been forcibly transferred or deported by the Russian authorities to Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine. As of August 2025, over 1.6 million Ukrainian children remain under Moscow’s control – either in occupied territories or deported to Russia. They face forced Russification, militarization, and ideological indoctrination – war crimes, which have led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Part of the indoctrination process involves compulsory attendance at military-oriented youth summer camps, where Ukrainian youth have been seen participating in war game simulations and swearing allegiance to Moscow. Previously, the Kremlin claimed its actions were intended to “protect vulnerable children from the war zone.” According to Ukraine’s “Bring Kids Back UA” initiative, “Tactics such as forcibly taking children from orphanages, killing parents, splitting families during filtration processes, creating unbearable living conditions in occupied areas, and brazenly kidnapping children from their homes and schools, is more than a tragedy; it’s a deliberate attack on Ukraine’s future.”
