The Yale School of Public Healthʼs Humanitarian Research Laboratory (Yale HRL) found that at least 2,442 Ukrainian children between the ages of six and 17 have been taken to Belarus since the start of the full-scale Russian war in Ukraine.
From February 24, 2022 to October 30, 2023, these children entered at least 13 institutions in Belarus.
The researchers established that Russia and Belarus coordinate the transportation of minors from the occupied territory of Ukraine through Russia to Belarus, where they are re-educated. At least six groups of children underwent military training in Belarus, including at internal security bases. From March 2022 to April 2023, at least three groups of children entered hospitals in Belarus for "treatment" and "rehabilitation".
Oleksandr Lukashenko and President of the Russian Federation Volodymyr Putin, the occupation authorities of the DPR and LPR and the special services of Russia and Belarus are directly involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children.
An important role in the transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus was played by a member of the national Paralympic team of Belarus Oleksiy Talai and his foundation, Olga Volkova and her organization "Dolphins" and OJSC "Belaruskaliy".
The number of children still remaining in Belarus is unknown. The people involved in the deportation of the children claimed that all the children were returned to Ukraine. But it could not be confirmed.
- The deportation of Ukrainian children is one of Russiaʼs war crimes, for which the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and the Childrenʼs Ombudsman of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova. Currently, it is known about the forced deportation of at least 19,453 Ukrainian children to Russia, although in the Russian Federation it was said that there were more than 700,000 children. Ukraine also has evidence that Belarus participates in the deportation of Ukrainian children.
- On May 23, 2023, the Belarusian opposition stated that Belarus participated in the deportation and removed 2,150 Ukrainian children, including orphans between the ages of 6 and 15. They were sent to Belarusian camps and sanatoriums. After that, the Ukrainian Prosecutorʼs Office started an investigation.
- In July, the head of the Belarusian Red Cross Society, Dmytro Shevtsov, admitted in a report on the "Belarus 1" TV channel that his organization participates in the removal of children from Ukraine.
- In September, the European Parliament recognized Oleksandr Lukashenko as complicit in Russiaʼs crimes in Ukraine, in particular in the deportation of children. He also asked the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant for his arrest.