Ukraine ombudsman: Russia forcibly took 25 civilians, including children, from occupied Kharkiv Oblast
Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets reported that Russian forces forcibly removed 25 civilians — including children, young people, and the elderly — from a temporarily occupied part of Kharkiv Oblast to an unknown destination under the guise of an "evacuation." Their current whereabouts are unknown, and video materials reportedly show pressure and intimidation during the removal. Lubinets appealed to Russia's and international bodies, citing Geneva Convention provisions banning forced displacement, hostage-taking, and intimidation.
Key points
- Russian military forcibly relocated 25 civilians from a temporarily occupied part of Kharkiv Oblast to an unknown destination under the guise of "evacuation."
- Among those taken were children, young people, and elderly people; their exact location and conditions are unknown, and their relatives do not know where they are.
- The occupiers described the operation as a "rescue operation" in their Telegram channels and created a Telegram bot to collect personal data (passport data, addresses, phone numbers) from civilians.
- Lubinets urged residents of occupied territories not to submit personal documents through the bot, warning the data could be used against them or their relatives.
- Lubinets cited Articles 33, 34, and 49 of the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which prohibit intimidation, hostage-taking, and forced displacement and deportation.
- Lubinets appealed to Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights (identified in one source as Yana Lantratova) and to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, and other international organizations, demanding information on the civilians' whereabouts and their return to Ukraine.
- The specific settlement from which the 25 people were taken was not disclosed by Lubinets.
Why it matters
The case documents another alleged instance of forced displacement of Ukrainian civilians, including children, from occupied territory during active hostilities, and ties it to a broader pattern of data collection through Telegram bots and pressure on residents. By invoking specific Geneva Convention articles and appealing to Russian and international humanitarian bodies, it is being formally placed on the record through the channels that handle civilian protection in wartime. The unknown whereabouts of those taken, combined with reported video evidence of intimidation, raises immediate concerns about the safety of the 25 civilians.
What happened
Ukraine's Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said in a Telegram post that Russian military forces forcibly took 25 civilians from the temporarily occupied part of Kharkiv Oblast to an unknown destination under the pretext of an "evacuation." Among those removed were children, young people, and elderly people. Their current location and conditions are unknown, and their relatives do not know where they are. The occupiers described the action in their own Telegram channels as a "rescue operation" and set up a Telegram bot to collect personal data — passport data, addresses, phone numbers, and other documents — from civilians under the same "evacuation" pretext. Available video materials indicate that the people being taken were subjected to pressure and intimidation. Lubinets urged residents of the occupied territories not to transmit their own or their children's personal data through the bot, warning it could be used against them and their relatives. He characterized the relocation as forced displacement and deportation prohibited under Article 49 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and also cited Articles 33 and 34, which prohibit intimidation, terror, collective punishment, and hostage-taking. He appealed to Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights — identified in one outlet as Yana Lantratova — demanding disclosure of the 25 people's whereabouts, information on their conditions, full data on the relocated civilians, and measures for their return to Ukraine, and also filed appeals with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, and other international organizations. The specific settlement in occupied Kharkiv Oblast from which the people were taken was not disclosed by Lubinets.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
All reporting on the case comes from Ukrainian outlets, and they uniformly present the action as a forced, illegal displacement carried out under the false label of "evacuation." Coverage centers on Lubinets's response — his legal characterization under the Geneva Convention and his appeals to Russian and international bodies — rather than the Russian-side narrative. The outlets pair the Kharkiv incident with the broader documented pattern of Russian deportations of Ukrainians, including the December 2025 removal of residents from the border village of Hrabovske in Sumy Oblast and the long-running deportation of Ukrainian children.
Where reporting differs
Ukrainian sources framing the case through Lubinets characterize the operation as forced displacement and deportation, while the occupiers' own Telegram channels presented it as an "evacuation" and a "rescue operation." Ukrainian outlets reporting Lubinets's statement treat the Russian framing as a pretext; the Russian-side characterization is recorded but not adopted as fact.
Background
The case follows earlier comparable incidents cited in reporting, including the December 2025 removal of approximately 50 residents from the border village of Hrabovske in Sumy Oblast, of whom Ukraine received information on 52 citizens from Russia on December 26. According to figures cited from the Bring Kids Back platform, Russia has reportedly deported more than 20,000 children from Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, with more than 2,500 returned as of September 2026. On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova on suspicion of illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. In July 2023, Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General opened an investigation into the involvement of the Belarusian Red Cross in the deportation of Ukrainian children. In May 2026, the United Kingdom sanctioned 85 Russians, 29 of them linked to forced deportation, ideological indoctrination, and militarization of Ukrainian children, also targeting the "Songdowon" camp in North Korea. In September 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law expanding sanctions related to the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.