Resolution To Condemn the Russian Federation’s Illegal Abduction and Forcible Transfer of Ukrainian Children to Russia

Model Resolution

WHEREAS, On January 12, 1951, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, commonly known as the “Genocide Convention,” came into effect. The Russian Federation is a party to the Genocide Convention, having ratified the convention on May 3, 1954. “Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group” “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” is a violation of Article II(e) of the Genocide Convention; and

WHEREAS, On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation escalated its eight-year-long occupation of sovereign Ukrainian territory by launching an unprovoked large-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the ensuing conflict, Russian forces have used violence against women and children, as demonstrated by the March 9, 2022, attack by Russian forces on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of at least three individuals and injuries to 17 other individuals; and

WHEREAS, The Russian Federation has deported and forcibly transferred Ukrainian children from Ukraine to Russia and territories of Ukraine temporarily controlled or occupied by Russian authorities. This has been facilitated by Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, who has claimed that “Russians have already adopted 350 orphans from the [Russian-occupied] Donetsk and Luhansk regions” and stated that the adoption of children from Ukraine was Russia’s “highest priority” for those children. Multiple sources indicate that a number of the abducted and deported or forcibly transferred Ukrainian children have families who remain in Ukraine but have been separated from their children due to the renewed Russian invasion; and

WHEREAS, Russian authorities have taken action to change the nationality and identity of Ukrainian children. In May 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree making it easier for Ukrainian children not in the custody of their parents to acquire Russian citizenship, and on June 15, 2022, a Russian proxy government in the Kherson region announced that children born in the Russian-occupied territory after the February 24, 2022, invasion would be deemed Russian citizens. A September 16, 2025, report by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab identified at least 130 sites in Russia or the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine involved in systematic cultural, patriotic, or military re-education of Ukrainian children; and

WHEREAS, The United Nations has been monitoring the impact of the conflict on children in Ukraine, including the abduction of children. In the 2022 annual report of the United Nations Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, Secretary-General António Guterres ordered that the situation in Ukraine would be added as a situation of concern in the next annual report. Subsequent reports indicate the United Nations has verified that, from the start of the invasion through December 2025, Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups have killed hundreds of children, maimed over 1,600 more, committed nearly 1,900 attacks on schools or hospitals, and abducted hundreds of children from Ukraine. These figures do not represent the full scale of violations against children, as verification of these incidents depends on access; and

WHEREAS, The United States and others have also been tracking this issue. On July 13, 2022, then United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken issued a statement in which the United States called on Russia to “immediately halt its systematic ‘filtration’ operations and forced deportations in Russian-controlled and held areas of Ukraine.” At the time, “[e]stimates from a variety of sources, including the Russian government, indicate[d] that Russian authorities ha[d] interrogated, detained, and forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, from their homes to Russia.” More recent sources report that an estimated 20,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to the Russian Federation, according to the Ukrainian government, though as recently as January 2025 Michael McCaul, Chairman Emeritus of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, stated that more than 200,000 children may have been abducted, citing U.S. estimates. The exact number of children affected is unknown, but it may be even higher than these estimates, as in July 2023 the Office of the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, published a report stating that 700,000 children from Ukraine had been relocated to Russia; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that we declare that the abduction and forcible transfer of children and facilitation of illegal adoptions is contrary to Russia’s obligations under the Genocide convention and amounts to genocide; and be it further 

RESOLVED, that we declare that the Russian Federation is attempting to wipe out a generation of Ukrainian children, thereby crippling Ukraine’s ability to nurture the next generation of Ukrainian citizens and leaders and to rebuild their country after Russia’s unprovoked war, with the purpose of demolishing Ukraine’s unique language, culture, history, and identity; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we note with concern that the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation has significantly increased the risks of children being exposed to human trafficking and exploitation, child labor, gender-based violence, hunger, injury, trauma, deprivation of education and shelter, and death; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we hold the Russian Federation, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, responsible for the wrongful and illegal abduction, forcible transfer, and subsequent illegal adoption and indoctrination of children from Ukraine and officially condemn these actions in the strongest terms; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we ask the United States Department of State to provide a report on the scale of the abduction and militarization of Ukrainian children by the Russian Federation; and be it further 

RESOLVED, that we request that Congress allocate funds to support ongoing work on returning these children to Ukraine; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we ask the Administration to prioritize the return of Ukraine’s children in negotiations; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the legislature of this state transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States Senate, Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, members of this state’s Congressional delegation, the United States Secretary of State, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and this state’s news media.