Russian-appointed Kherson region “governor” and two collaborators suspected of unlawfully transferring students to Crimea

Juvenile prosecutors of the Office of the Prosecutor General have served a notice of suspicion on Volodymyr Saldo, the so-called “governor of Kherson region,” in a case concerning the unlawful forcible transfer of students from a Kherson lyceum to temporarily occupied Crimea. Two collaborators have also been served notices of suspicion: the deputy director and a teacher of Kherson Lyceum Students to Crimea.

They are suspected of violating the laws and customs of war, committed by a group of persons acting in prior conspiracy.

How the removal was organized

According to the investigation, the deportation was planned and approved by officials of the Kherson occupation administration with the assistance of the Russian Federation’s top political leadership.

They acted in stages:

The occupation “governor” instructed the so-called “Ministry of Education and Science of Kherson Region” to organize the removal of children from the region’s educational institutions to Crimea under the pretext of “health recovery.”

To give this an appearance of legality, the “ministry” issued an order declaring school holidays in educational institutions in Kherson and the region. The same order required heads of institutions to organize the children’s “health recovery.”

The lyceum’s deputy director prepared the documents for the transfer.

The students were taken to a camp in Crimea without their parents’ consent. They were accompanied by a teacher from the same lyceum, who had been assigned a specific role in the children’s transfer.

What happened to the children

After the “holidays” ended, the children were not returned home. They were moved to another camp in Crimea and later enrolled in the “Kerch Maritime College.”

One of the students did not receive necessary medication at the camp, ended up in intensive care, and required long-term treatment.

Within the framework of the President’s initiative Bring Kids Back UA and with the assistance of the NGO Save Ukraine, the children were successfully returned to Ukraine.

Investigation

The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Sanctions have been imposed on two of the suspects.

The Office of the Prosecutor General is grateful to the Partnership for a Strong Ukraine Foundation (the “Transitional Justice and Missing Persons Mechanism” project) for its assistance in locating and identifying the children.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova in connection with the war crimes of unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children. These warrants constituted international legal recognition that the forcible removal of Ukrainian children is not an “evacuation,” as Russia claims, but a crime for which individual responsibility must follow.

As of October 24, 2026, 2,752 children who had been deported or forcibly transferred have returned home within the framework of the President of Ukraine’s initiative Bring Kids Back UA.