Ukraine says Russian forces abduct 25 civilians, including children, from Kharkiv

Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announced that Russian troops forcibly transferred 25 civilians, including children, from an active-conflict zone in occupied Kharkiv Oblast to an undisclosed destination. He characterized the operation as intimidation, rejecting Russia’s claim that it was a voluntary evacuation. No details were given about the specific settlement or one outlet location of the individuals, and their condition remains unknown.

Russian authorities posted a video on Telegram portraying the action as a rescue, which Lubinets said displayed clear pressure on the people involved. He also cautioned that occupation officials have created a Telegram bot to harvest personal information by pretending to organize evacuations, endangering civilians and relatives. Lubinets has appealed to Russia’s human-rights commissioner and asked the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations and other international organisations to intervene. The forced transfer violates Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and a 2026 UN commission previously labeled similar deportations of Ukrainian children as crimes against humanity.