Donetsk region's Gauleiter Pushilin is suspected of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has charged Denys Pushylin, the leader of militants in the Donetsk region, and his associates for their role in the forced deportation of over 30 Ukrainian children to Russia. This is part of an investigation into war crimes committed by Russian forces and their collaborators in occupied Ukrainian territories.

According to the SBU, at least 31 Ukrainian minors were forcibly deported from areas of Donetsk region occupied by Russia after the full-scale invasion. The children were taken to a boarding house named «Polyany.» It is located in the Moscow suburbs and run by the Presidential Affairs Directorate of the Russian Federation.

The deported children included 16 boys and 15 girls, with some coming from Mariupol. Three children were forcibly taken from their father and sent to the Olenivska colony. Additionally, 19 orphans and children deprived of parental care were removed from Mariupol. Nine others were abducted from children’s social centers in Shakhtarsk and Khartsyzk.

The investigation

The investigation revealed that these actions were part of a Kremlin directive executed by Denys Pushylin. Pushylin signed «Resolution No. 84,» which justified the deportation of these children. This was done under the guise of «rehabilitation» in Russian medical and recreational facilities. The operation was overseen by Eleonora Fedorenko, Pushylin’s adviser, and Svitlana Maiboroda, head of the so-called «family and children’s service of the DPR.»

The abducted children were initially taken to Donetsk, then transported by bus to Rostov-on-Don, and eventually flown to Moscow. From there, they were transferred to the boarding house «Polyana.» Some of the children were later placed with Russian families, including one child adopted by Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights.

Pushylin, Fedorenko, and Maiboroda have been charged in absentia with violating the laws and customs of war under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. These charges pertain to war crimes committed by a group of individuals acting in conspiracy.