A Special Database of Ukrainian Orphans for Adoption Has Been Created in the ‘LPR,’ Where Children Can Be Selected by Eye and Hair Color. Is This True?

Last week, news broke in the media: the authorities of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic created a catalog of Ukrainian children left without parental care, where a child can be selected for adoption based on eye and hair color. This was noted by Mykola Kuleba — head of the Ukrainian charity Save Ukraine, which helps children taken from Ukraine to Russia return home.

“They describe children as if they are goods: ‘obedient,’ ‘calm,’ and so on. The way they describe our children is no different from a slave catalog. This is real child trafficking in the 21st century, which the world must immediately stop,” Kuleba said.

His words were interpreted to mean that a separate database of Ukrainian children had emerged in the 'LPR,' where they are offered as goods. But the reality is more complicated and more terrifying.

There really is a database of orphans in the 'LPR,' but it was created long ago, before the start of the full-scale war. Judging by archived questionnaires, children have been added there since at least 2016.

Why did news about the creation of the database only appear now? Previously, issues of guardianship and adoption in the occupied region were handled by the 'LPR' Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, but in the summer of 2024 this function was transferred to another agency — the local Ministry of Education and Science. A year later, the Luhansk Ministry of Education and Science created a new website instead of the existing one and announced this on social media, which is what Save Ukraine noticed. Now, the Luhansk database of orphans looks exactly like the all-Russian one. In essence, it was a formality: management of the database was transferred from one ministry to another and brought in line with the regulations of Russian regions.

Can a child really be selected by eye and hair color? Yes, this option exists in the Luhansk database, but this is not a unique practice created specifically for children from Ukraine. The all-Russian database works the same way: in the search fields, you can select only brown-eyed or only red-haired children. It can be assumed that this was originally done to make it easier for adoptive parents to find a child: for some, it is important that the children look like them, although the ethics of such an approach are debatable.

The same applies to the descriptions of children that Save Ukraine draws attention to. Russian orphans in the federal database are presented in exactly the same way as Ukrainian ones. Here, for example, is how a 16-year-old Danila from Tatarstan is described in a questionnaire: “By character, polite, obedient, listens to the words of adults. Easily makes contact with peers and adults. Likes sports.”

“Neat, keeps things in proper order. Disciplined, calm boy,” is how Aytemir from the Altai Republic is described. Yes, these descriptions are mostly written in a bureaucratic style and look formal and soulless, but the Russian state treats all children in institutions this way, not only those whose homeland it has destroyed and occupied.

At the time of publication, the 'LPR' database contains questionnaires for 294 children left without parental care. But these are not all the children from Ukraine whom the Russian authorities offer for guardianship or adoption. Even before the full-scale war, Russia began taking children in entire institutions from the occupied regions, and later — from newly seized territories as well. They were distributed to orphanages across the country, and their questionnaires were entered into the federal orphan database without indicating their origin — as if they were children from Russia. IStories and Verstka found almost 300 questionnaires for displaced children, and according to our estimate based on data from the Russian Ministry of Education, the number could reach nearly 2,500.

And this is even more terrifying. At least with the children in the 'LPR' database, we know that they are still on annexed territory. About the children who were taken away and entered into the federal database, we know almost nothing: they become indistinguishable from Russian orphans, and to find them in the database requires much more effort, while their traces are quickly lost.

Why are we analyzing this news in such detail? The removal of Ukrainian children to Russia is a crime recognized at the international level. At IStories, we have long been following this issue, and we have been able to uncover much — from the scale of the deportation to the first confirmed case of a Ukrainian child being adopted and having their identity changed. But in the case of the 'LPR' database, a formality occurred that, due to an inaccurate interpretation, became a news story, although in reality no new catalog of Ukrainian children appeared. The Russian authorities are committing a terrible crime, which we will continue to document, but in this work it is important not to forget about accuracy and reliability. There is already enough propaganda in Russia.