Russia using sick online 'catatolgue' to put kidnapped Ukrainian children up for adoption

Many of the children seen on the database are believed to be from the Luhansk region (Image: Getty)

Russia has been accused by a charity of 'digital child trafficking' after kitnapping thousands of Ukrainian children and listing them on an adoption website, where users can sort youngsters by age, gender, hair and eye colour, and even personality.

Since the start of its attempted invasion, more than 35,000 Ukraine children have been snatched by Russian forces, with some being forced to join the military.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, warned in July that older kidnapped teens had been found dead on the frontline after being sent to fight against their own country.

Mykola Kuleba, founder of the Save Ukraine organisation, says Russia has now started s twisted adoption database and has warned that 294 children on the site are effectively being trafficked by the Kremlin.

He posted on X: "Ukrainian children are being displayed online like products. This isn’t a new tactic. Since 2014, Ukrainian children have appeared in Russian adoption databases.

"However, since 2022, the practice has become widespread and systematic. Initially, Russian authorities tried to cover their tracks, shutting down registries and erasing references.

"Now, the pretence is gone. The official website of the so-called "ministry" of the Luhansk occupation administration brazenly displays this data for all to see."

Many of the children seen on the database are believed to be from the Luhansk region, which has been under Russian occupation since 2022. A year later, The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for his part in overseeing the mass abduction of Ukrainian children.

Mykola said: “These children are not ‘war orphans.’ They had names, families, and Ukrainian citizenship. Many lost their parents to shelling. Others were forcibly taken and re-registered with new documents. Now, they’re being matched with Russian families, treated like animals in a pet adoption database.”

Demonstrations have been held to raise awareness for the kidnapped children. (Image: Getty)

Kyiv officials estimate roughly 35,000 children have been kidnapped by Russia since its invasion in February 2022, with work being done by the government and experts to bring attention to the 're-education camps' where many are kept in prison-like conditions.

Here, they are understood to be "forced to watch Russian propaganda, beaten and subjected to sexual violence, according to parents and activists," the New York Post reported in 2023.

The Save Ukraine CEO accuses Russia of systematically deporting the children deep within the world's largest country in a bid to separate them from loved ones forever.

“With a single click, a child is stripped of their identity, issued a Russian passport, and subjected to ideological control,” Mykolasaid. "This is not adoption. This is not care. This is digital child trafficking, masked as bureaucracy."

Save Ukraine rehabilitates those displaced by war across its seven 'Hope and Healing centres', where children and families stay for up to three months and receive shelter, humanitarian aid, psychosocial support and more.

Aside from being stripped of their Ukrainian identity, the chaity fears the online database could expose the kids to 'sexual and labour exploitation', as well as 'organ harvesting'.

Mykola claims the website describes some children as 'obedient' and 'respectful towards adults', adding 'physical development is age-appropriate' to others.