October 7, 2026
Russia has built a system to militarize Ukrainian children: Bring Kids Back UA address OSCE parliamentarians in Andorra
The meeting of the Parliamentary Support Team for Ukraine took place as part of the 24th Autumn Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Andorra la Vella, 7 October 2026. Today, as part of the 24th Autumn Meeting of the OSCE PA, the Parliamentary Support Team for Ukraine (PSTU) held a meeting. The meeting opened with remarks by PSTU Chair Nancy Faeser, followed by a situation update from OSCE PA Vice-President and PSTU Co-Chair Mykyta Poturaiev. Its thematic discussion focused on Russia's crimes against Ukrainian children: deportation and forcible transfer, indoctrination and militarization. Parliamentarians heard from Maksym Maksymov, Head of Bring Kids Back UA, an initiative of the President of Ukraine, and Yevheniia Kravchuk, Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Maksym Maksymov: the return of children must remain central to any negotiations
Maksymov thanked the Parliamentary Support Team for Ukraine and OSCE PA Special Envoy Carina Ödebrink for their work. He also recalled that the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has found the deportation, forcible transfer and enforced disappearance of Ukrainian children to be crimes against humanity. This year, 41 OSCE participating States also invoked the Moscow Mechanism to investigate the indoctrination and militarization of Ukrainian children.
“This is a state-designed and state-operated system. Russia deports or forcibly transfers some Ukrainian children, changes their names, citizenship and legal status, places them in Russian institutions or families and obstructs their reunification with relatives. Other children remain in the occupied territories, but Russia attempts to separate them from Ukraine culturally, psychologically and politically. At school, they are taught weapons handling, tactical medicine and drone operation. Outside school, they are drawn into paramilitary youth structures. This policy is not only planned but also systematically financed,” said Maksymov.
According to him, for 2026 Russia has budgeted approximately €237 million for the Movement of the First and €13 million for Yunarmiya. The Moscow Mechanism experts concluded that systematic indoctrination and militarization may constitute the crime against humanity of persecution. Up to 1.6 million Ukrainian children are exposed to this system. Ukraine has verified 20,651 cases of the unlawful deportation and forcible transfer of children. As of 7 October 2026, 2,665 children have been brought home.
“Demand that Russia provide complete lists of children, information about their whereabouts and independent humanitarian access. The return of children must be unconditional: they cannot be exchanged or used as bargaining chips. The return of children and the termination of their indoctrination and militarization must remain central to any ceasefire or peace negotiations,” Maksymov told parliamentarians.
Yevheniia Kravchuk: “Russia is trying to take Ukraine out of these children”
Kravchuk focused on the indoctrination of children, the destruction of their Ukrainian identity and their militarization.
“Russia is not simply trying to take Ukrainian children out of Ukraine. It is trying to take Ukraine out of these children. And this is not just about banning the Ukrainian language or replacing Ukrainian textbooks with Russian ones. It is about fundamentally reshaping children's identities, their understanding of history, their values, and even their perception of who is their enemy,” she said.
Citing Ukrainian human rights organizations, Kravchuk said that approximately 344,000 children in the occupied territories may have been involved in the activities of the Movement of the First. Its programmes begin as early as kindergarten, and children as young as seven are introduced to drone operation. According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, 381 cadet and Cossack classes operate in 137 schools across occupied Crimea, involving approximately 8,500 children. Kravchuk noted that Crimea has been under occupation for more than twelve years. A child who was five in 2014 is now seventeen, which means an entire generation has grown up under occupation.
“Today, we must recognize that Russia does not even need to physically move a child to steal their identity. It can do so through schools, youth organizations, textbooks, and the systematic militarization of everyday life under occupation,” Kravchuk stated.
She welcomed the growing engagement of Global South countries in the work of Bring Kids Back UA. Kravchuk stressed that the protection of children is an area where every country can make a meaningful contribution, regardless of geography or military capabilities. She called for targeted sanctions against those responsible for indoctrination and militarization, and for support for relevant UN resolutions.
Bring Kids Back UA extends special thanks to Yevheniia Kravchuk, Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and Mykyta Poturaiev, OSCE PA Vice-President and PSTU Co-Chair, for their participation in the meeting and their support for the return of Ukrainian children.