The video that exposed a war crime: 53 Ukrainian orphans put on a plane to Russia

Ukrainian prosecutors have formally named four Russian occupation officials as suspects in a major war crime investigation: the forced deportation of 53 Ukrainian orphans—none of them older than five. The entire operation was captured on camera by Russian state television, creating an undeniable paper and video trail that investigators are now using to pursue international warrants and sanctions.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Russian energy firms linked to thousands of Ukrainian children taken during war

While the International Criminal Court previously issued arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova, this new Ukrainian case zeroes in on the ground-level bureaucracy: the administrators and medical directors who signed the papers and put the children on the plane.

Scripps News’ chief international correspondent Jason Bellini was the first to report, in 2023, that Russia was forcibly taking Ukrainian orphan babies.