Russia’s Presidential aircraft and funds were used in a program deporting children from occupied Ukrainian territories, stripping them of Ukrainian identity, and placing them with Russian families, concludes a report by Yale University’s School of Public Health.

The study identifies 314 Ukrainian children taken to Russia in the early months of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. It concludes that Putin and senior Kremlin officials “intentionally and directly” pursued a “systematic program of coerced adoption and fostering”. The evidence includes verified, leaked Russian documents, with direct orders from senior Russian officials — including Putin — to carry out the program.

The assessment bolsters the International Criminal Court arrest warrant, issued in March 2023, for Putin and Russia’s “Children’s Rights” Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova over the deportations.

Nathaniel Raymond, the Executive Director of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, will present the findings to the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

Raymond explained that the report proved “the deportation of Ukraine’s children is part of a systematic, Kremlin-led program”. He said the evidence supports additional charges by the ICC against Putin.

“It reveals a higher level of crime than first understood,” the Research Lab summarizes.

Ukraine officials say they have confirmed the forced transfer of almost 20,000 children to Russia or Russian-occupied territory, and around 6,000 are in a network of re-education camps. They add that the actual number is likely to be far higher.