Ukrainian children are being sold all over the world as a result of Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine. Earlier in the week, an 11-month-old boy was saved by Ukrainian border guards from a child-trafficking scheme on the Ukrainian boarder with Slovakia. It is not clear whether the child was being trafficked for adoption or organ trade.
The alleged trafficker, a 43-year-old man, was detained at the Mali Selmentsi border checkpoint in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region. Border guards arrested him during an attempt to take the 11-month boy abroad. Information about the man was received from the mother, who reported that she had been lured into selling the child. Prior to his arrest, the man was said to have organized at least three sales.
According to border guards, the culprit sought out Ukrainian women in difficult financial situations and persuaded them to sell their children. He has been detained and now faces charges that could result in 8 to 15 years in prison.
The 11-month-old boy’s mother was to sell her boy for $5,000. The trafficker stood to make a profit of a reported $20,000 from the sale.
Moscow has been forcibly transferring Ukrainian children to Russian territory, an act considered to be genocide and for which the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova. Over 200,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November, 4, 2024
Earlier this week news outlet Censor.net reported that the Kremlin was orchestrating the abduction of another 300 Ukrainian children from Zaporizhzhia and to deport them to the Russian Republic of Chuvashia – 1, 500 kilometers from home.
Over 8.2 million Ukrainian refugees have been recorded in Europe; 90 percent of them are women and/or children.
Virtually all Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are banned from leaving their country. With hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men mobilized, and untold thousands killed or injured many of their women are now facing poverty. Insufficient support for humanitarian programs, both inside and outside Ukraine, are creating an opportunity for sex- and child-traffickers.
Earlier this month, Kyiv Post reported on how all levels of Russia’s government are involved in abducting Ukrainian children.
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