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Politics
Stefan Schmitt, Project Lead for International Technical Forensic Services, Florida International University

Prosecuting Russians for abducting Ukrainian children will require a high bar of evidence – and won't guarantee the children can come back home

Thousands of teddy bears with candles on display at a protest in Brussels in February 2023 represented abducted Ukrainian children. Nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga MAG/AFP via Getty Images

The International Criminal Court is set to issue its first arrest warrants connected to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It will open two war crimes cases for Russians allegedly responsible for carrying out mass abductions of Ukrainian children and destroying infrastructure, according to Ukrainian officials quoted in March 2023 media reports.

Since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian government, Western powers and the United Nations have collected evidence of Russian violations of international humanitarian law, such as war crimes. This includes widespread sexual violence and the forced abduction and transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

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