Kremlin outlets have seized on discrepancies in estimates of the number of Ukrainian children taken to Russia, touting them as supposed «proof» that the deportations are a Western invention. In reality, the varying figures reflect the inherent difficulty of gathering reliable data amid an ongoing war and under occupation. What remains undisputed, however, is the consensus among international organizations: Russia is engaged in the systematic deportation of Ukrainian children.
Amid President Donald Trump’s talks with Vladimir Putin in Alaska and parallel meetings with European leaders, Kremlin-linked media have stepped up efforts to cast doubt on accusations of Russian child abductions. One of the loudest voices amplifying the line was Irish-born propagandist Chay Bowes, who wrote on X that claims of Ukrainian children being taken to Russia are «one of the most pernicious and deceitful stories spread by Kyiv and its corrupt patrons.» Bowes argued that Western governments cannot even agree on the number of abducted children—a talking point aimed at portraying the allegations as fabricated.
«Kiev says that Russia ‘Kidnapped’ 20k Ukrainian kids, The BBC says 30k? Meanwhile, researchers from Yale in the USA say it’s 8.4k?. And this is where it gets almost embarrasingly ridiculous. At the Peace negotiations in Istanbul in 2025, Ukraine handed over a list of 339 ‘children’ allegedly ‘abducted’ by Russia,» the publication states.
In reality, the narrative pushed by Kremlin outlets is another attempt to deflect attention from Russia’s own war crimes. Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv and international organizations have accused Russia of forcibly transferring thousands of children from occupied regions. In 2023, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, estimated that roughly 150,000 children had been taken. Children’s rights ombudsman Daria Herasymchuk put the figure higher—between 200,000 and 300,000—drawing on evidence from occupied territories, eyewitness accounts, official documents and records of deportations and adoptions. The precise number remains impossible to verify amid ongoing fighting and Russian control of parts of Ukraine.
So far, Ukraine has been able to identify more than 19,000 children who, according to officials, were illegally taken by Russian authorities to Russia or occupied territories. In April 2023, Kyiv submitted the list to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is tasked with verifying the conditions under which the children are being held.
Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) has estimated that roughly 35,000 Ukrainian children have been deported by Russia as of March 2025. The lab documented 314 children from Donetsk and Luhansk regions who were taken after February 2022. According to HRL, some were sent to at least five Russian regions and entered into official adoption databases, while others were placed directly with Russian families. Researchers concluded that the deportation and naturalization program is directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. The findings were shared with Ukrainian authorities and the International Criminal Court.
Russian propagandist Chase Bowes has claimed that during talks in Istanbul, the Ukrainian delegation allegedly «demanded the return of only 339 children,» framing this as proof that Kyiv’s accusations are fabricated. In fact, this is a distortion. Ukraine provided Moscow with a list of 339 children as a confidence-building step, stressing that it represented only a small share of the total number of minors taken by Russia.
Daria Zarivna, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian president’s office and director of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, said the limited list was prepared specifically for the second round of negotiations to speed up the process. «We have 1.6 million Ukrainian children in temporarily occupied territories. They are subjected to indoctrination, militarization, and systematic propaganda. This does not negate the figure of 19,546 children for whom we have confirmed data and cases,» Zarivna said.
In August 2025, the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children — including 38 countries, the Council of Europe, and the EU — urged Russia to immediately return all children illegally transferred, beginning with the 339 identified by Ukraine. «Russia’s forced deportation of nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children is a flagrant violation of international law. We call on Russia to start with the 339 children identified by Ukraine,» the coalition’s statement said.
Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, clarified that Russia had only provided partial information on a small fraction of the list. «There is information on less than one-fifth of the children. For the rest, including wards of the Kherson orphanage, there is no response. Claims of ‘full processing of the list’ are untrue,» Yermak said.
In reality, Russia has returned only six children, five of them from a single family, a process facilitated by Qatar’s humanitarian efforts and taking over a year to complete. In July 2025, the European Court of Human Rights confirmed «overwhelming evidence of a systematic practice» of transferring Ukrainian children to Russia without parental consent and arranging their adoption. Earlier, in March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, charging them with war crimes connected to the illegal deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children.
Russian propaganda frequently exploits numerical discrepancies to cast doubt on documented war crimes, contrasting differing estimates of abducted Ukrainian children to suggest the issue is exaggerated or fabricated. This tactic aims to create an illusion of uncertainty, but in reality, all international organizations confirm that Russia systematically and illegally transfers Ukrainian children—a practice recognized as a war crime.
Previously, StopFake also refuted the false claim that Ukraine had allegedly taken 85 disabled children to the EU, where they were supposedly «put up for sale.»
