Ukraine has found new evidence of the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia. Cyber specialists found information during a hack of servers of authorities in Russian-occupied Crimea. This may help with finding and returning the children.
The Ukrainian military intelligence service (HUR) says it has found thousands of documents with information about the deported children from the regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk. These include profiles of the abducted children, evidence that they have been granted Russian nationality, and addresses of the locations where the children are housed.
HUR has handed over the files to the police. “The information obtained will help to locate the abducted children and return them to their homeland,” writes a spokesperson for the intelligence service. “And to bring those responsible to justice.”
Earlier this month, the agency announced that hackers had infiltrated servers of Russian authorities in Crimea. They reportedly found 100 terabytes of secret information about, among other things, Russian military logistics.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022, the country has abducted and taken more than nineteen thousand Ukrainian children to Russia. It mainly concerns the forced adoption of children from orphanages. The plans for the mass abductions were devised before the start of the war and are labeled as war crimes by, among others, the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Kremlin wants to “forcibly” include the Ukrainian children in the next generation of Russians, says the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Research from the American Yale University shows that in at least 32 Russian camps, Ukrainian children are being indoctrinated with “military-patriotic” training.