Former Teacher Denies Deporting Ukrainian Children
Kherson resident tells Kyiv trial that she “did not abandon” her work during the occupation.
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A Ukrainian teacher has pleaded not guilty to facilitating the illegal transfer of seven Ukrainian children from Kherson to occupied Crimea in October 2022.
According to the indictment, in August 2022 42-year-old social care teacher Yulia Suprun accepted the role of deputy director of the Kherson Vocational School No 2, an institution established by the occupation authorities on the premises of a Ukrainian school.
Suprun was assigned responsibility for six children, aged 15 to 17, who were officially registered as “orphans”, “children deprived of parental care” and “children in difficult life circumstances”.
“Suprun then enrolled the six minors in an educational institution established by the occupation authorities,” prosecutor Serhii Zuzak told the Desnianskyi District Court of Kyiv at the start of the hearing on March 26, 2026. “Around the same time, she also arranged for the enrolment of another minor, identified as B, into the same Russian-backed institution. This child had been studying at pre-school establishment No. 2 in Kherson since 2021 and was living in the school’s dormitory.”
He noted that Russian authorities, working with illegal local proxies, were forcibly transferring Ukrainian children from occupied parts of the Kherson region, first to the left-bank territories and then to occupied Crimea. The occupation authorities deceived the children and their families by promising that they would be attending holiday camps and health retreats.
“With the aim of moving children to the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Suprun and two accomplices ordered the children on October 6, 2022 to pack their personal belongings. They informed them they were being sent to children’s camps in Crimea for a short holiday, supposedly for recreation,” the indictment read. “When one of the victims, identified as K, objected to leaving, the institution’s director threatened him with unlawful imprisonment if he did not comply. On the morning of October 7, 2022, Suprun and the two other individuals drove all seven minors by car to the Dnipro River in the city of Kherson.”
The children were then taken to the river port in the city of Oleshky, from where buses transported them to the Druzhba camp in Yevpatoria, Crimea. The indictment noted that at that time “there were no grounds based on security or medical needs for the forced relocation of these children from the city of Kherson”.
“Furthermore, this transfer was organised without the consent of the children’s legal guardians,” Zuzak emphasised. Two weeks later, one of the children was sent back to Kherson “due to his mental development and behaviour, which posed a danger to other children”.
Over the next six months, the remaining minors were moved throughout the occupied territory. They underwent military training and were coerced into changing their citizenship.
Through the efforts of international organisations, one child was eventually returned to Ukraine. Another child travelled to Germany and two went to Poland. The fate of two other children remains unknown, according to the indictment.
Zuzak stressed that Suprun’s actions violated the Geneva Convention, which prohibits the evacuation of children to a foreign country except in cases of temporary evacuation for urgent reasons.
“If parents or legal guardians can be located, their written consent is required for such an evacuation,” Zuzak continued. “Any evacuation must be conducted under the supervision of the protecting power - in this case, Ukraine - and with the agreement of the concerned parties, namely the evacuating party, the party receiving the children and any nations whose citizens are being evacuated.”
Suprun, a native of Kherson, is also charged with collaboration and theft of school property. If convicted she faces eight to 12 years in prison.
One of the victims has filed a civil lawsuit seeking 10 million UAH (228,000 US dollars) in compensation for non-pecuniary damages.
Suprun was subsequently arrested at her residence in Brovary, Kyiv region, where she settled after leaving Kherson.
Asked by presiding judge Taras Salaichuk if she admitted her guilt, Suprun pleaded not guilty. She also stated that she rejects the civil lawsuit filed by one of the victims in the case. At the start of the hearing, the court permitted Suprun to make a brief statement outlining her position, in which she emphasised that she had voluntarily refused to evacuate her family abroad, stating she “did not abandon my work and the children deprived of parental care, but remained in the city”.
“I repeatedly called the juvenile police and specialists from the children’s services to ask what to do with the vulnerable children in our care. The answer I got was, ‘We’re no longer in Kherson. Take care of yourself. We’ll deal with this when it’s all over.’ For nine months, we received no orders, recommendation letters or warnings from the children’s services about the orphans and what was to be done with them. From the start of the full-scale invasion, the Kherson city and regional children’s services essentially stopped functioning. All contact with their staff was lost,” Suprun stated.
The accused emphasised that she had also been responsible for an orphan student, B, “whom I did not abandon” and that the six other children were enrolled at the school under the new, occupation-appointed director.
According to Suprun, as a social care teacher, her authority was limited to reviewing their personal files, and that only the director had the power to make decisions on student enrolment or expulsion.
Likewise, she claimed, only the director could approve the transfer of children to Crimea.
“I am accused of a very serious crime, but if I were guilty, I would have likely fled to the occupied territory when everyone else did or I would have stayed abroad,” Suprun stated.
When asked by a reporter after the court hearing if she considered herself innocent on all charges presented, Suprun replied briefly, “I stayed to work for the sake of the children. I do not admit my guilt.”
