Russia may send abducted Ukrainian children to fight against Ukraine. The Russian Federation continues its campaign to erase the national identity of Ukrainian children.
This was stated by the EU’s High Representative Kaja Kallas on Wednesday, 11 November, during a plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
According to her, the deportation of Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories to Russia is taking place with the personal approval of Vladimir Putin. At present, more than 20,500 children are known to have been illegally taken away.
Kallas recalled that this year’s OSCE report described in detail an organised campaign by the Russian state in the occupied territories, aimed at erasing Ukrainian identity in children from an early age. The available evidence, she said, points to a crime against humanity.
She also said there are grounds to believe that Russia may send abducted Ukrainian children to fight against their own country.
The European Union is imposing sanctions on individuals and organisations involved in the deportations. New children’s camps were recently added to the sanctions list, including the international children’s camp “Sondo-1” in North Korea, where Ukrainian children were found.
“Russia abducts children, and North Korea carries out their ideological indoctrination. That is how dictatorships divide up ‘responsibilities’ between themselves,” Kallas said.
In December 2025, the European Union, together with other countries, supported a UN General Assembly resolution. The document called on the UN Secretary-General to engage directly with Russia to establish the whereabouts of the deported children, assess their health and legal status, and ensure their return to Ukraine.
As of November 2026, 2,719 Ukrainian children have been returned. Among them are 13 children and teenagers who were brought back last week.
Kallas stressed that ending Russian aggression must include the return of every Ukrainian child to their parents. If that does not happen, it will remain a black stain on humanity’s conscience.
- Around 1.6 million Ukrainian children who are in temporarily occupied territories remain at risk of deportation and forced transfer to Russia.