06.06.2025 Investigations

Repatriation of children from Austria to Kirovohrad region: care or another manipulation for money?

On the night of June 2, 2025, 52 Ukrainian children, including 17 with severe disabilities, were smuggled from the Austrian town of Burgauberg-Neudauberg to Ukraine. These children, who were evacuated from Kropyvnytskyi in 2022 due to a full-scale invasion, lived in safety for three years, attending school, kindergarten and receiving proper care. But the Ukrainian authorities decided to return them to Ukraine, despite the intensification of Russian offensives and rocket attacks.

What is known about the decision now?

On May 26, 2025, a staff meeting was held at the Kirovohrad Regional Administration to discuss the return of 52 children from the Kirovohrad Regional Center for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care for Children. The meeting was attended by the head of the Kirovohrad Regional Council Drozd, the head of the Center Raykovych, the first deputy head of the Regional Council Semeniuk, deputy heads of the Center Polishchuk, Sheremet, Revenko, as well as heads of structural units, heads of district administrations, heads of communities and representatives of central authorities. However, it is unknown who initiated the repatriation.

According to the official version, the repatriation procedure was agreed with the first secretary of the consular section of the Embassy of Ukraine in Austria and the municipality of Burgauberg-Neudauberg. However, the Austrian side, in particular the city’s mayor’s office, expressed outrage, calling the actions of the Ukrainian authorities unjustified. Residents of Neudauberg, where the children have integrated into local life, do not understand why they were returned to a country where the war is ongoing. The mayor of the city said he had no legal leverage to prevent the departure, even though the community was strongly against it.

Official position: what does the local government say?

The head of the Kirovohrad Regional Center for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care for Children justified the return of children by the need to place them in family-based care. This explanation is based on the National Strategy for Deinstitutionalization approved in Ukraine in 2021 and the Strategy for Ensuring the Growth of Every Child in a Family Environment for 2024-2028. According to these documents, orphans and children deprived of parental care, including those with disabilities, should be brought up in a family environment, not in institutions.

However, questions arise: why did these children, evacuated in 2022, remain in an institutionalized setting until 2025? Why did the KNP administration initiate repatriation only now, referring to a strategy that has been in place for several years?

It seems that the real motivation is related to the desire of the institution’s management to retain state funding. Keeping children in the institution ensures a steady flow of budget funds, which is, of course, beneficial for the leaders there.

That is why we immediately sent requests for clarification and confirmation on a number of issues. In particular:

  1. Which KOVA official initiated the consideration of the repatriation issue at the meeting on May 26, 2025?
  2. Are there minutes of the meeting where this issue was discussed and can they be obtained?
  3. What document was the basis for the return of the children in June 2025?
  4. What were the circumstances that led to the evacuation of children in 2022, and are they still relevant?
  5. How many children are planned to be placed in family-based care, and what forms of care are envisaged?
  6. What are the conditions of children’s stay in the CCs, in particular in terms of safety and comfort?

And most importantly, are the interests of children really a priority, or have we witnessed the manipulation of the state policy of deinstitutionalization?

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