SBU identifies Russian officer behind deportation of 15 children from Mykolaiv

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Office of the Prosecutor General have gathered evidence against a Russian serviceman involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children from the Mykolaiv Oblast during its occupation.

According to the SBU, the suspect has been identified as Dzhabrail Yusupov, call sign Gabriel, a section commander of Russia’s 205th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade.

Ukraine’s National Information Bureau reports that as of early 2024, over 19,500 children have been verified as deported to Russia. However, the actual number could be significantly higher since many cases in occupied territories remain undocumented. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of unlawful deportation of children, which constitutes a war crime.

In July 2022, investigators say, Yusupov led 20 armed soldiers who forcibly removed 15 children from the Novopetrivska special school.

The Prosecutor General’s Office states that the group included eleven boys and four girls aged 8 to 17.

The prosecution reports that among the deportees were 12 children with special status, two who were in the facility due to difficult life circumstances, and a girl who had been adopted by US citizens but could not be evacuated before the full-scale invasion.

According to the investigation, the children, along with the school’s director and her husband, were first transported to occupied Crimea and then transferred “under convoy” to Anapa in Russia’s Krasnodar Oblast.

The deportees were held in a local resort facility for almost a month.

“They were subjected daily to Russian propaganda and nationalism. The children were forbidden to speak their native language, use Ukrainian symbols, and were forced to sing the Russian anthem every morning,” the SBU reports.

The children were evacuated from Russia to Georgia in November 2022 with the help of a charitable organization before being returned to Ukraine.

The SBU has issued Yusupov a notice of suspicion in absentia for violating the laws and customs of war in conspiracy with a group of persons.

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