Europol and its partners identify 45 Ukrainian children transferred forcibly

Europol announced that, following a coordinated operation together with the Netherlands on April 16 and 17, 2026, information about 45 Ukrainian children transferred or forcibly deported to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Belarus was identified and transmitted to the Ukrainian authorities. According to the European agency, this initiative aimed to support Ukrainian investigations in a case where the forced transfer or deportation of children from their usual place of residence may constitute a war crime based on essential international legal frameworks.

In short

Europol and its partners identified information regarding 45 Ukrainian children who were forcibly transferred or deported and transmitted it to the Ukrainian authorities.

The operation took place in The Hague on April 16 and 17, 2026, with the participation of 40 experts from 18 countries.

The initiative also involved the International Criminal Court, as well as specialized non-governmental organizations.

Ukraine has documented so far the forced transfer or deportation of over 19,500 children from the occupied territories to Russia or Belarus.

Europol states that the case concerns facts that may constitute war crimes and that the investigation was based on digital techniques and information from open sources.

The operation was hosted by Europol, co-organized with the Netherlands, and conducted at the agency's headquarters in The Hague. According to the statement, 40 experts from 18 countries, the International Criminal Court, and non-governmental partners participated in the action. This initiative was the third of its kind and the second specifically focused on identifying Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported from their usual place of residence.

Europol emphasizes that participation was built around experts in open-source intelligence, gathering for a joint OSINT hackathon action. In the explanation provided by the agency, the term refers to a multi-day meeting where participants try to find solutions to a specific digital problem, and in this case, OSINT techniques were used to produce actionable information from publicly available open sources.

The concrete outcome of this meeting was the compilation of 45 reports containing information deemed valuable for locating deported or forcibly transferred children. The statement explicitly lists the types of data identified, the transport routes used during the forced relocations, individuals who facilitated the deportations, including directors of orphanages, military units involved, individuals who received the deported children, camps or facilities where the children were taken, platforms where photographs of possibly deported children appear, and even Russian military units where some of the deported children might currently be fighting in Russia's aggression war against Ukraine.

The European agency shows that all these results were transmitted to the Ukrainian authorities on the very day of the announcement, to support ongoing investigations. Europol also states that the collected information will be further analyzed. The wording is important because the institution does not claim that all 45 children have been recovered or located with certainty, but that leads and elements of information have been identified that may lead to their location and clarification of responsibilities.

From the perspective of the Ukrainian authorities, the case has a much broader scope. Europol specifies that Ukrainian investigations have documented so far the forced transfer or deportation of an estimated number of over 19,500 children from the occupied territories to the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus. The statement adds that some of these children have been adopted by Russian citizens, while others are reportedly in re-education camps or psychiatric hospitals.

In this architecture, Europol's role is not presented as one of direct criminal prosecution, but as operational and coordination support. The agency states that it provided on-site coordination, technical support, and a framework for cooperation for the involved experts. The list of participating countries includes Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In parallel, among the institutional and private partners are mentioned the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mnemonic, Global Rights Compliance, Osint for Ukraine, and Truth Hounds.

Europol qualifies this activity as part of the effort to support Ukrainian investigations regarding facts that may fall within the scope of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. In the text, the agency explicitly links the forced transfer and deportation of children to several essential international legal frameworks and indicates that the operation aimed not only at identifying the children but also at mapping the individuals and structures that may have organized or facilitated the relocations.

https://2eu.brussels/ro/stiri/europol-si-partenerii-sai-identifica-45-de-copii-ucraineni-transferati-fortat