Oleshky boarding school · Kherson region, occupied 2022
84 children were taken. This is where they are now.
The Oleshky boarding school held 101 residents when the full-scale invasion began. Thirteen were evacuated by relatives and four died before the removals started. The remaining 84 were taken in three organised transfers in October and November 2022. Of those 84, 13 have since come home and two have died in Russian custody. 69 are still missing.
- 84 Taken Removed in three transfers, 21 Oct – 11 Nov 2022
- 69 In our tracing caseload Still missing after 13 returns and two deaths
- 46 Located Identified or assessed as located by June 2026
- 23 Unresolved Still no confirmed location
Where the 69 are today
- 15 Skadovsk, occupied Kherson Oblast
- 27 Strilkove (Dniprovsk boarding school)
- 3 Penza, Russia
- 1 occupied Crimea
- 23 unresolved
A location is not safety. For most of these 46 we still have no humanitarian access, no independent confirmation of their health, care or legal status, and no restored contact with their families. Finding someone is the beginning of the work, not the end of it.
Every person we locate is someone whose family can begin a legal case for return. Seven complete humanitarian return case files have been prepared with relatives. Tracing work is slow, dangerous and funded almost entirely by private donations. Thirteen former residents have already come home. It can be done… it is slow, dangerous, and funded almost entirely by private donations.
Help bring them home Read how we traced 46 of them
Figures last updated: . Source: Emile Foundation investigation, FOUND. NOT HOME. (September 2026).