Ukraine charges four occupation officials over deportation of 53 children to Russia; Russian strikes injure six across three cities

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has charged four occupation officials in absentia for the planned deportation of 53 Ukrainian children from Donetsk and Makiivka to Russia in October 2022, the largest single child deportation case brought to court so far. The announcement came as Russian forces struck residential and industrial areas in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Sloviansk on 25–26 August, injuring at least six civilians.

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said on 25 August that the suspects – Dmytro Hartsev, the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” health minister; Svitlana Maiboroda, head of the occupation’s “State Service for Family and Children’s Affairs”; and children’s home directors Viacheslav Vysiahin and Viktor Honcharov – coordinated the removal of children from three institutions in the occupied cities. “This was not an evacuation. This was a planned deportation of Ukrainian children, organised at the highest level of Russia’s military-political leadership,” Kravchenko told Ukrainska Pravda.

According to the investigation, the children were transported by bus to Rostov-on-Don, Russia, then flown by a special Rossiya flight detachment aircraft to Moscow Oblast, where they were distributed among social centres. Russian authorities quickly processed documents, granting the children Russian citizenship and entering them into the state database. Twenty-eight of the 53 children were placed under the guardianship of Russian families, and their profiles appeared on an adoption portal. The case follows a pattern of systematic child deportation documented by Ukrainian and international investigators since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. The four suspects are charged in absentia; it remains unclear whether Russia will cooperate in their extradition.

While the charges mark a significant step in accountability, combat operations continued. On the evening of 25 August, Russian forces struck an industrial facility in Zaporizhzhia, causing a fire and damaging vehicles, according to Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration. No casualties were reported in that attack. Simultaneously, Russian Geran-3 UAVs hit a residential area in Kharkiv’s Osnovianskyi district, injuring four people and damaging six houses and five cars, the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported. Three other residents suffered acute stress reactions, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration (Ukrainska Pravda).

Just hours later, at 04:20 on 26 August, Russian forces struck the centre of Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast, with what appeared to be guided aerial bombs. Vadym Liakh, head of the Sloviansk City Military Administration, reported that two people were injured and at least 12 apartment buildings were damaged. “Most likely guided aerial bombs,” Liakh wrote on social media (Ukrainska Pravda). Liakh also noted that over the previous day, one person had been killed and five others injured in the city.

The strikes on 25–26 August underscore the continued threat to civilians even as Ukraine pursues legal avenues against Russian war crimes. The Zaporizhzhia industrial facility attack likely aimed at disrupting manufacturing supporting the Ukrainian defence effort, while the residential strikes in Kharkiv and Sloviansk appear indiscriminate. The child deportation case, meanwhile, highlights the Kremlin’s long-standing policy of forcibly transferring Ukrainian children into Russian foster care – a practice that the International Criminal Court has classified as a war crime and a crime against humanity. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has said that additional suspects are under investigation.

As of 26 August, the whereabouts of the 53 children remain unknown. Ukrainian authorities urge any information that could lead to their recovery.