Russia actively promotes forced adoption of Ukrainian children

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has noted that a so-called documentary about the removal and forced adoption of Ukrainian children to Russian families has been mass distributed in the country.

The ISW claims that the commercials calling for the adoption of Ukrainian children reported that Russian proxy officials had removed over 150,000 children from Donbas in 2022 alone. The commercials feature Ukrainian children from Donbas.

ISW analysts recalled:

Forced adoption and deportation programmes for children under the guise of recreation and rehabilitation probably form the basis of a massive Russian depopulation campaign, which may violate the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and is a broader ethnic cleansing effort.

Analysts also pointed to the fact that the Russian children's ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova supports the forced removal of Ukrainian children and their adoption in Russia in every possible way. She herself has even adopted a child removed from Mariupol.