children deported or forcibly transferred.
Ukrainian children under russian occupation and civilians in captivity cannot wait for peace.
Release of captured civilians and abducted children must happen before any peace agreement — not as a bargaining chip, not deferred.
Since 2014, russia has occupied Ukrainian territory and annexed Crimea; in 2022 it launched its full-scale invasion. Large parts of Ukraine's east and south remain occupied.
Beyond massive physical destruction, the occupation's lasting impact falls on the people living under it — through forced passportization, property expropriation, militarization of young people, and the arrest of thousands of civilians.
Figures
20,651
children deported or forcibly transferred.
One dot is one child.
civilians unlawfully detained; only around 1,500 released to date. 85% of them report torture.
children in the occupied territories are enrolled in Yunarmiya.
properties seized in occupied territory since 2024.
enforced-disappearance cases registered.
None of the monitoring bodies has physical access to occupied territory. Every figure cited here is a verified minimum.
Children: abduction, reeducation, militarization
Children are placed in russian schools, reeducation camps, and military-patriotic organizations, where the Ukrainian identity is suppressed and replaced with russian ideology. Beyond indoctrination through the regular russian school system, Ukrainian children have been taken to at least 210 identified facilities including summer camps, sanatoriums, and military training grounds, and have been subjected to re-education and, in some cases, military training.
Orphans or children in unclear custody arrangements have been placed with russian families — making return increasingly difficult. In total, an estimated 1.6 million Ukrainian children under the age of 18 currently live under occupation, where they are exposed to the russian state education system, patriotic education, and other forms of ideological influence and militarization.
One childhood under occupation
A child is transferred, reassigned a new identity, and prepared for service within the occupying state's system.
Kindergarten
A weekly compulsory programme, "Conversations about Important Things", embeds pro-war narratives from kindergarten age.
School
Ukrainian curricula are replaced with russian ones. Ukrainian-language instruction was eliminated by russian Ministry of Education Order No. 729, in force since December 2025.
Camp
Deportation is presented as "evacuation". Children are placed in camps, boarding schools, or russian families, and transferred between russian regions.
New papers
Changed documents, name, or citizenship; forced passportization; guardianship or adoption; severed contact with the child's Ukrainian family.
Teenager
Weapons and drone training, cadet classes, military-patriotic camps. Cadet classes in occupied Crimea grew from 3 in 2015 to 306 in 2025. Yunarmiya counts 44,000 members from occupied territory.
16
Pre-conscription notices are issued to boys as young as 16.
18
Conscription at 18, after citizenship coercion, itself constitutes a war crime.
Source: OSCE Moscow Mechanism expert mission, July 2026, as cited in our policy paper.
Civilians: detention, coercion, disappearance
Activists, officials, journalists, clergy, and relatives of Ukrainian service members face the threat of detention and persecution. Detention can mean unofficial imprisonment, torture, or enforced disappearance, leaving families without information. This creates an atmosphere of all-encompassing fear among people.
- Abduction
- Interrogation
- Coercion
- Fabricated case
- Trial
- Penal colony
No dedicated release mechanism
Civilian detainees are not prisoners of war.
POWs have protected status and exchange mechanisms; civilian hostages have no equivalent status, no dedicated release mechanism, and risk permanent exclusion from any exchange.
The anatomy of russian occupation
russian occupation is a coordinated system: it involves ideology, institutions, physical violence, administration, education, logistics, propaganda, and financial resources. Every part performs a function.
Read Part 1 of the policy paper
Accountability
The forced transfer and reeducation of children and coerced military service in the occupation forces violate international law. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova over the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. The UN Commission of Inquiry has found enforced disappearance and torture to be crimes against humanity, carried out as coordinated state policy.
Why release cannot wait for peace
Returning abducted children and civilians requires documentation, tracing, diplomacy, mediation, sanctions and reintegration — none of which need to wait for a peace deal.
- Documentation
- Tracing
- Diplomacy
- Mediation
- Sanctions
- Reintegration
Can start now
In current discussions about peace talks, russia treats this as a bargaining chip in ceasefire talks for alleged confidence-building. But international law is explicit: children must never enter POW exchange frameworks, and release must be non-negotiable.
Release
- Abducted children return home
- Captured civilians are released
- The militarization of children ends
non-negotiable
before
Peace
- Ceasefire terms
- Security arrangements
- Sanctions
- Peace agreement
Three fixable gaps stand in the way
- 1Ukraine's Ministry of Justice keeps a central database of deported children. What is missing is an interoperable case-management system that connects it with international tracing.
- 2Insufficient international pressure on russian authorities
- 3No reintegration system ready for people once they return
Policy recommendations
Accountability
Prosecute crimes under universal jurisdiction and support international compensation mechanisms.
Targeted pressure
Sanction those implementing occupation policies, not only senior officials.
Return and reintegration
Coordinate international efforts to return abducted children and release civilians, while preparing support for their return.
Non-recognition and protection
Reject occupation-era russian documents and protect Ukrainians from russian coercion and intelligence activity.
THEY CANNOT WAIT FOR PEACE.
Every day of delay makes return harder.
Day [MISSING: days] of occupation
Partners
Release Before Peace is a campaign by Vitsche e.V. with Terre des Hommes and Razom.
Vitsche is a Ukrainian-led civil society organisation based in Berlin. vitsche.org
Press
We can connect journalists with affected people and experts and provide background information and further material.
Press contact: Vladyslava Vorobiova
vladyslava.vorobiova@vitsche.org