46 Children Were Taken From Ukraine. Many Are Up for Adoption in Russia.
Russian officials say the children were rescued. Experts say what happened to them could amount to a war crime.
The New York Times traced how a web of officials and politicians aligned with President Vladimir V. Putin’s party carried out a campaign to permanently transfer Ukrainian children from Kherson.
By Yousur Al-Hlou and Masha Froliak
heir fears soon came true: On April 25, 2022, Russian officials found the children and took them under their own authority, eventually moving them 180 miles from home — all while filming them for propaganda.
Evidence shows the transfer was part of the broader, systematic campaign by President Vladimir V. Putin and his political allies to strip the most vulnerable victims of the war of their Ukrainian identity. The New York Times reviewed Russian social media posts; obtained photos, videos, text messages and documents; and interviewed more than 110 caregivers, legal experts and Russian and Ukrainian officials to trace the lives and movement of the children as they were taken into Russian custody.
What happened to them next, legal experts say, may amount to a war crime.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/02/world/europe/ukraine-children-russia-war.html
This is the front page with the photographs:
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/06/10/nytfrontpage/scan.pdf