Whereabouts of 8 abducted Ukrainian kids traced in hackathon organized by Dutch police

International police forces have managed to track down eight Ukrainian children who were abducted and deported by Russian troops during a hackathon organized by the Dutch police and Europol. They’ve shared the information with the Ukrainian authorities.

Some 60 investigators from 23 countries, including the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, and Sweden, gathered at Europol’s headquarters in The Hague a few weeks ago. They used satellite images, advanced facial recognition, and geolocating - determining the exact location of images using satellite images and other things - to try and find Ukrainian children abducted since Russia invaded the country two years ago.

This was the first time that international specialists in the field of digital open sources worked so closely together on the subject of child abduction in Ukraine, Vincent Cillessen of the Dutch police’s International Crimes Team told AD. “Since the start of the war in February 2022, thousands of Ukrainian children have been taken from their familiar environment by the Russians. That may be seen as a war crime. Since we have no physical access to Russia, we tried to locate these children and perpetrators based on digital sources,” he said.

“We did not expect this first joint hackathon to immediately yield results. We mainly wanted to learn from each other and exchange skills, but our people immediately caught on. Given the success, we want to do this more often. We aim for at least once a year,” Cillessen said.

The police said that the found children included orphans forcibly displaced to territory occupied by Russia. They are in various locations and have also been used for Russian propaganda purposes.

The information has been shared with the Ukrainian authorities. “We are working with colleagues in Ukraine, and it is now up to the police there to share information with family members and start a criminal investigation into the possible perpetrators,” Cillesen said. “We hope that the Ukrainians can do something with this. That they can get these children back based on this information. But without knowing where these children are, you cannot enter into negotiations.”

Ukraine estimates that Russia has abducted and deported around 20,000 children. Dozens of children have been retrieved by their parents, but that is a dangerous undertaking. The Ukrainian charity Save Ukraine has also brought back at least 95 kids. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lviva-Belova, over the abductions.