Russia’s Online 'Slave Market' for Stolen Ukrainian Children Exposed

Russia has launched an online platform where Ukrainian children, taken from occupied territories, are displayed and can be selected using filters such as gender, age, eye color, and hair color. The revelation comes from Mykola Kuleba, head of the humanitarian organization Save Ukraine, who describes the website as a modern-day “slave catalog.”

According to Kuleba, this marks a disturbing escalation of Russia’s long-standing policy of forcibly transferring Ukrainian children. Since 2014, minors from Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk have been systematically taken to Russia under the pretext of adoption or guardianship. But now, the process has been digitized. On this website, children are listed with uncovered faces and labeled with descriptions like “obedient” or “calm,” as though they were merchandise.

The initiative appears to respond to what Kuleba suggests is declining interest among Russian families. He argues that the occupiers have moved toward a more aggressive and dehumanizing system of trafficking, with clear indicators of commodification. Users can browse through children by appearance and personal characteristics, stripping away any pretense that this is a humanitarian effort.

Kuleba points out that many of the children shown on the site were born before the full-scale invasion and held Ukrainian citizenship. In some cases, their parents were killed by Russian forces; in others, children were simply issued Russian identification to mask their illegal relocation.

The head of Save Ukraine stresses the hypocrisy of Russian negotiators who, in talks with Kyiv, request lists of missing children. He says that the evidence they claim to lack is openly posted on official Russian websites - such as the portal of the so-called Luhansk “Ministry of Education.” The full database of abducted children is there, he claims, and proves the extent of the crime.

The figures are stark. Since the start of the war, 646 Ukrainian children have been killed, 2,104 have been wounded, and over 2,200 are listed as missing. Moscow is accused of illegally taking 19,456 children. Only 1,509 have been returned.

Kuleba’s message is direct: what Russia is doing amounts to child trafficking. His organization is working to bring the children home, where they belong - with their families, in their country, and among their people. He calls on the international community to recognize the severity of this practice and take urgent action to stop it.