The International Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine says it finds Russian authorities committed crimes against humanity by deporting and forcibly transferring thousands of Ukrainian children, and it also raises new concerns about Ukrainian laws and practices including a broad interpretation of collaboration and abuses during mobilization.Investigators confirm 1,205 cases in files they reviewed while Kyiv estimates nearly 20,000 children were taken and reports that around 80 percent of examined children did not return, with returns often obstructed and relatives left uninformed of children’s fate.The commission documents denial of fair trial guarantees, reliance on evidence obtained under torture, systematic fabrication of evidence, and a pattern of ill treatment by Russian forces, and it also reports that nationals from 17 countries were recruited, briefly trained and forced into frontline assaults.The commission, created by the
Human Rights Council in 2022, says evidence points to policies set at the highest levels of the Russian state, notes the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for
Vladimir Putin, and plans to present full findings to the
Human Rights Council as Ukrainian Foreign Minister
Andrii Sybiha urges stronger pressure while Russian authorities reject the report.