Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of abducting Ukrainian children and training them to fight against their countrymen. Ukraine’s leader said Kyiv has evidence that the Russians “push these [abducted] boys to the battlefield” and that they are “taught to hate their native country”.
“Ukrainians, can you imagine, such young Ukrainians, young boys, come to the battlefield and kill Ukrainians,” Mr Zelensky said in an interview with CBS News. This marks the first time that the Ukrainian leader, who has led the country throughout the now over four-year war against Russia, has levelled the accusation against Moscow. However, the militarisation of Ukrainian children and conscription of Ukrainians by Russia has been well documented. Mr Zelensky also revealed that the Kremlin had attempted to swap youngsters for its captured soldiers.
“They proposed us to exchange children with soldiers,” Mr Zelensky said, according to The Telegraph. “Can you imagine?” Unlawful deportation, forcible transfer, “re-education” of civilians and hostage-taking are war crimes. He said Kyiv had documented the abduction of at least 20,000 Ukrainian children by Russia, but the true figure is believed to be much higher. While Ukraine has returned around 2,200, Mr Zelensky said retrieval was “difficult”.
Around 1.6 million Ukrainian children live in Russian-occupied territory. They suffer a militarised curriculum and the influence of paramilitary youth movements, including the Yunarmiya. Moscow also runs at least 210 camps aimed at “Russifying” and militarising Ukrainian children, subjecting some as young as eight to army training, including shooting and grenade-throwing competitions, according to Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab.
Ukraine said Russia conscripts or forcibly enlists men from the occupied territories using passportisation – the fast-tracking of passports and citizenship as a means to justify military intervention. Those who refuse a Russian passport lose healthcare, education and social benefits, according to reports.
Ukraine revealed in November that 16% of the prisoners of war being held by Kyiv were Ukrainian citizens, highlighting the complex human toll of the conflict. According to PoW official Andriy Pasternak, some detainees are just 18 or 19 years old, meaning they were still children when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, accusing them of overseeing the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia. The court said there were reasonable grounds to believe both officials bore responsibility for the alleged war crime, marking the first time the ICC had issued a warrant against the leader of a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations and dismissed the warrants as politically motivated.
