CCTV shows chilling moment Russian FSB agents and soldiers scour Ukrainian orphanage for children
Sky News has unearthed evidence Russia has been abducting Ukrainian orphans and children in care.
Allegations that the Russian military has been deporting children have been some of the most disturbing aspects of this nasty war.
Sky News investigated reports Russians took children from two orphanages in Kherson. Our investigation found evidence supporting the claims but also revealed extraordinary bravery among ordinary Ukrainians trying to thwart their efforts.
Ukrainian officials say the Russian military abducted 97 orphans when they withdrew from Kherson region.
The abduction of children is a grave violation of the rules of war.
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Volodymyr Sahaidak is the director of an orphanage in the village of Stepanivka outside Kherson.
When Russian forces occupied the area he says he knew he had to take action to protect his children.
He had seen what Russians had done to orphans in the Donbas region since starting a civil war there in 2014.
“We saw Russian propagandists saying that they need to take the orphans to give them to military schools, indoctrinate them and let them fight for Russia,” he said.
“It was the scariest thing so we started hiding children because we understood they would take them.”
The chilling footage shows armed men walking through the orphanage
The 52 children at the orphanage were among the most vulnerable, orphans or in care, and it turns out Mr Sahaidak’s fears were well-founded.
Exclusive CCTV footage obtained by Sky News from the orphanage cameras captures the chilling moment Russians arrived to find the children.
The footage shows agents with Russia’s secret police, the FSB, leading soldiers with rifles through a building that should be a place of sanctuary.
Volodymyr Sahaidak said his orphanage started hiding children because he knew Russians would come to take them
“They confiscated all the children’s files,” Volodymyr told Sky News, “because they couldn’t figure out where the children were, so they took files, they took computers, they took away the CCTV system because they wanted to know where the children had gone.”
The children had gone because the community had heard the call from the orphanage to hide them. The entire village rallied together to protect the children, taking them in, three or four per family. They ran the risk of collaborators exposing them to the Russians and being arrested or shot.
The Russians never found the orphans but sent another fifteen children from elsewhere in Ukraine for the orphanage to look after. Sky News has seen videos showing orphanage staff taking them in and treating them as their own.
When Russian forces finally retreated from the region, they came and took all 15 children with them. There was nothing the orphanage could do.
Orphanage teacher Oxana described the day they were taken.
“They were put in these military vehicles and taken away, soldiers with machine guns, so of course the children were scared and didn’t know where they were being taken.”
The orphanage welcomed the children as their own
They weren’t the only ones, Sky News also investigated claims Russians took much younger children from another orphanage in central Kherson.
Natalya Kadyrova lives next to the orphanage. She also described the moment the Russian military came to abduct the children.
“When the children were being taken out, Russian armoured personnel vehicles were standing around the perimeter and soldiers so that no one would film.”
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The children were toddlers, ages three to five, and she says the moment still haunts her.
“Of course I’m worried about them, they are small children. They are just abandoned children. We do not know where they are, what happened to them or where they were taken.”
The Ukrainian prosecutors office says Russians took 48 orphans aged three to five from this orphanage. They say they have opened a criminal prosecution into the case and called in the Ukrainian secret service to investigate.
One of the orphanage’s children who was hidden from the Russians by Volodymr
The Ukrainian government says 13,000 children have been deported or abducted by Russia during the war.
Mr Sahaidak and his village saved 52 children from the clutches of the Russians, but not the other 15 orphans taken by them.
Pakistan has launched attacks on “multiple targets” across India, according to the media wing of Pakistan’s military.
Pakistan said in a statement that retaliatory attacks are underway in response to what it called “continuous provocation” by India, which fired missiles at three air bases inside Pakistan.
“Multiple targets in this operation are being engaged all across India,” the statement from Pakistan Armed Forces (PAF) said.
Pakistan’s military said it used medium-range Fateh missiles to strike more than 25 military sites, including airbases and weapons depots in the Indian states of Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan, as well as locations in India-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan’s military posted footage on X showing missiles being fired from what appeared to be a mobile launcher.
Pic: MilitaryPakISPR
The AP news agency also said loud explosions have been heard in India-administered Kashmir, in the disputed region’s two big cities of Srinagar and Jammu, and the garrison town of Udhampur.
Meanwhile, an Indian military source told Reuters that India has launched air operations in Pakistan, although no further details were given.
The operations mark the latest escalation in a conflict between the two nuclear-armed rivals, triggered by a deadly attack last month in India-administered Kashmir.
Most of the 26 civilians killed were Hindu Indian tourists. India blames Pakistan for backing the assault, an accusation Islamabad rejects.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the National Command Authority, the body which takes security decisions, including those related to the country’s nuclear arsenal.
State-run Pakistan television said three air bases were struck by India on Friday, although Pakistan insisted most of the missiles had been intercepted.
Despite the military offensive, PAF also posted a message on X in what appeared to represent an opportunity to de-escalate the situation.
“Now that a response has been given we hope the neighbour [India] will move to dialogue and diplomacy like Civilized Nations,” it said.
In recent days, both countries have launched a series of missile and drone strikes, although the scale and impact have been consistently questioned by each other.
On Wednesday, India conducted airstrikes on several sites in Pakistani territory. Pakistan said it shot down five Indian fighter jets.
On Thursday, India claimed to have repelled drone and missile attacks at military targets in more than a dozen cities and towns, including Jammu in India-administered Kashmir. Meanwhile, India claimed it struck Pakistan’s air defence systems and radars close to the city of Lahore.
A damaged house in Jammu, in Indian-administered Kashmir, after a Pakistani drone attack. Pic: AP
The Indian army said on Friday that Pakistan fired about 300 to 400 drones, targeting military installations along the western borders – a claim strongly denied by Pakistan.
The G7 group of advanced economies, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and Britain, urged maximum restraint from both India and Pakistan.
“We call for immediate de-escalation and encourage both countries to engage in direct dialogue towards a peaceful outcome,” a statement issued on Friday said.
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World
European leaders to meet in Ukraine for ‘coalition of the willing’ talks – and issue call to Russia
Sir Keir Starmer will join other European leaders in Kyiv on Saturday for talks on the “coalition of the willing”.
The prime minister is attending the event alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, recently-elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
It will be the first time the leaders of the four countries will travel to Ukraine at the same time – on board a train to Kyiv – with their meeting hosted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz travelling in the saloon car of a special train to Kiev. Pic: Reuters
Military officers from around 30 countries have been involved in drawing up plans for the coalition, which would provide a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire being agreed between Russia and Ukraine.
Ahead of the meeting on Saturday, Sir Keir, Mr Macron, Mr Tusk and Mr Merz released a joint statement voicing support for Ukraine and calling on Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire.
Sir Keir and Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting in March. Pic: AP
“We reiterate our backing for President Trump’s calls for a peace deal and call on Russia to stop obstructing efforts to secure an enduring peace,” they said.
“Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace.”
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The leaders said they were “ready to support peace talks as soon as possible”.
But they warned that they would continue to “ratchet up pressure on Russia’s war machine” until Moscow agrees to a lasting ceasefire.
“We are clear the bloodshed must end, Russia must stop its illegal invasion, and Ukraine must be able to prosper as a safe, secure and sovereign nation within its internationally recognised borders for generations to come,” their statement added.
“We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine.”
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The European leaders are set to visit the Maidan, a central square in Ukraine’s capital where flags represent those who died in the war.
They are also expected to host a virtual meeting for other leaders in the “coalition of the willing” to update them on progress towards a peacekeeping force.
This force “would help regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces after any peace deal and strengthen confidence in any future peace”, according to Number 10.
World
Ten explosions near international airport in India-administered part of Kashmir, officials say
Ten explosions have been heard near Srinagar International Airport in India-administered parts of Kashmir, officials have told Reuters news agency.
The blasts followed blackouts caused by multiple projectiles, which were seen in the sky above the city of Jammu earlier on Friday.
Explosions were also heard in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, in the neighbouring Punjab state, according to Reuters.
An Indian military official told the agency that “drones have been sighted” and “they are being engaged”.
It comes as tensions between India and Pakistan across the line of control around the region of Kashmir have boiled over this week, leading to fears of a wider conflict.
On Wednesday morning, India carried out missile strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered parts of the disputed region.
The retaliation came weeks after 26 people, mainly Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen in an India-administered part of Kashmir last month.
The government in India said it hit nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites, while Pakistan said it was not involved in the April attack and the sites were not militant bases.
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Explained: India-Pakistan conflict
Around 48 people have been killed since Wednesday, according to casualty estimates on both sides – which have not been independently verified.
India also suspended its top cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League, as a result of rising tensions, while the Pakistan Super League moved the remainder of its season to the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a conference on Friday that the US is in constant contact with both India and Pakistan.
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