By Olha Chepil | 2025-08-14

On the official website of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) Ministry of Education, a click pulls up a child's profile: a photo paired with a physical description and personal traits. Nearly 300 Ukrainian children are displayed this way.

Ukrainian human rights activists say many are not orphans at all, but children whose parents were killed, separated or stripped of custody by Russian occupation authorities.

"It's no different than a catalog of slaves," Mykola Kuleba, founder of Save Ukraine, a charity that rescues abducted children from occupied Ukraine and Russia, told Kontur. "This is real child trafficking in the 21st century, and the world must stop it."

A catalog of slaves

Save Ukraine says the online catalog lists profiles of 294 Ukrainian children under 17, with photos and descriptions labeling them obedient, calm, polite and disciplined. Filters allow searches by age, gender, eye and hair color and whether they have siblings.

Kuleba said the adoption process has been turned into an imitation of online shopping.

"Like slaves at a slave market, these children have been put on display so any Russian can come in, point and choose," he stated angrily.

Most listed minors were born before Russia's occupation of Luhansk and held Ukrainian citizenship, Kuleba noted. Some lost parents to occupying forces; others had Russian documents forged to justify their abduction.

Save Ukraine demanded immediate international intervention.

"We're deeply concerned that these children may be abducted by traffickers or pedophiles, exploited by unknown parties or simply vanish," Kuleba warned.

A challenge to international law

Save Ukraine's senior legal counsel, Miroslava Kharchenko, told Kontur that Russia is violating both international law and its own statutes by mishandling Ukrainian children in occupied areas.

Under the Geneva Conventions, if a child is left without guardians, authorities must notify the child's native country or intermediaries such as the Red Cross. Russian officials should locate relatives, not rush to place children in orphanages and "put them up for sale," Kharchenko said.

She noted that in Russia, orphan information is confidential and photos cannot be published without consent.

"One can only imagine what a grandmother feels when she sees a photo of her granddaughter or grandson in this 'catalog'," Kharchenko added.

She explained that Russia alters abducted children's names, birth dates and birthplaces after "adoptions," making them almost impossible to trace.

In 2022, Krasnodar's child protection service openly posted that 1,000 Ukrainian children were awaiting adoption by Russian families. The post was later removed, likely to hide evidence of wrongdoing.

"Until the war is over and we are given access to all the abducted children, we will not be able to give an exact number," Kharchenko said.

The scale of obductions

The International Criminal Court in March 2023 issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of the war crime of illegally deporting Ukrainian children. Returning those children remains a key Ukrainian demand in peace talks.

Yale University researchers estimate as many as 35,000 children are being held in Russia or Russian-occupied territories. Ukraine's Bring Kids Back initiative says only 1,366 have been returned as of June.

"Our organization, Save Ukraine, has saved 761 children. Of these, 157 children are orphans," said Kharchenko.

Media reports say Russia has sent abducted Ukrainian children to fight on the front lines. In July, Ukrainian cyber specialists hacked servers of the Russian administration in Crimea, retrieving thousands of files on the kidnapped children, including lists, personal profiles and orders placing them with Russian citizens.

"Thousands of files containing critical evidence of one of Russia's gravest war crimes -- the abduction of Ukrainian children -- have been transferred to law enforcement agencies. These files will be analyzed and used in criminal proceedings," Andrii Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, said in a statement at the time.

After an uproar over the online adoption catalog, the so-called LPR Ministry of Education removed children's photos from its website. But Kuleba said Save Ukraine preserved the database. It is working with law enforcement to identify the children, determine their origins and locate them.