Russian forces in Zaporizhzhia region torture child and unlawfully convict three others

In the Zaporizhzhia region, the fate of 22 children remains unclear; one of them was tortured to death, and three were unlawfully convicted.

Artem Kysko, head of the Main Department of the National Police in the Zaporizhzhia region, published these statistics on Facebook on the occasion of International Missing Children’s Day, according to Ukrinform.

“Since the start of the full-scale invasion, police in the Zaporizhzhia region have located 112 children who went missing during the hostilities. Currently, the fate of 22 children remains unknown: 8 were forcibly taken to other regions and to Russia, three were illegally convicted by the occupying authorities and are in places of detention, and one child was tortured to death, though the burial site remains unknown,” he wrote.

Since the beginning of the year alone, police in the region have located 119 children.

As reported by Ukrinform, in July 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree awarding the Order of Freedom posthumously to Tihran Ohanisian and Mykyta Khanhanov, who were killed by Russian invaders on June 24, 2023, in the temporarily occupied city of Berdiansk.