logo
Inside Ukraine's secretive hacker group helping track down children abducted by Russia in Putin's war

Inside Ukraine's secretive hacker group helping track down children abducted by Russia in Putin's war

Independent01-03-2025

In the three years of Putin's bloody war against Ukraine, one of the most shocking statistics to emerge is that as many as 150,000 children may have been abducted by Russia.
As the world's attention turns to Donald Trump raging against Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House and hopes of peace talks evaporate, the loss of loved ones is still the daily reality for the Ukrainian people.
Among the missing are orphans whose parents have been killed in the conflict and then separated from their remaining relatives. Thousands of others have been taken from orphanages that fell into Russian hands. Most of the children have been spirited away to unknown locations in Russia, often thousands of miles from their homes where they are indoctrinated to despise Ukraine.
Attempts to retrieve the children by family members have, overwhelmingly, proved fruitless. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has labeled the deportations as a war crime and issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, his 'Commissioner for Children's Rights', in March 2023.
But there are those trying to help rescue the children and return them to their homeland, including hacker groups using Ukraine's technological expertise to do it.
Click here for the latest updates on the war.
The Independent has spoken to Maksym Dudchenko, the co-founder of one of the most active such groups, called Kiborg. Dudchenko, a 21-year-old student based in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv, said that he and others who started Kiborg in the summer of 2022, were prompted by a desire to help trace the abducted children.
The group is named after Ukrainian soldiers who became a legend as they defended Donetsk Airport for a year against overwhelming enemy forces after Putin launched the initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Because they refused to quit, the Russians dubbed them 'kiborgi' - 'cyborgs', a nickname the defenders were happy to apply to themselves.
Dudchenko explained that one of the group became an expert in exposing the activities of Russia's 'shadow fleet' which illegally exports shiploads of stolen grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine. He mentored Dudchenko in 'hacktivism' and inspired him to co-found Kiborg.
'I think I learned quickly,' he said. 'I and my colleagues were able to hack large amounts of data. I was driven, in part, by the desire to find out something others did not know about; to discover something unique and not to just grind out something that had already been covered several times but to find something that would impact on the situation, might even change the world.'
Dudchenko said Kiborg hacked into archives of Quisling governments established by Moscow in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014, during Putin's initial grab of Ukrainian territory, and in puppet authorities of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions occupied in 2022.
The hacks remained undetected for some time, said Dudchenko, enabling Kiborg to access huge stores of data. Much of that dealt with deported children and in its first big success the group identified exactly where 160 of the children now lived and who with.
Kiborg has continued its work concerning the snatched children, tracing not only their whereabouts but also the identities of Russian officials and Ukrainian collaborators responsible for overseeing the deportation process.
Dudchenko said that Kiborg shares its information with Ukrainian government agencies, including its SBU intelligence and HUR military intelligence agencies dealing with Russian crimes and international justice and human rights bodies such as the ICC and UN.
The hackers broadened their searches to uncover the identities of Russian officials and secret police agents deployed to bolster Moscow's grip on the occupied territories.
Kiborg has handed over the names, photographs and Russian home addresses of hundreds of such Russian officials many of whom are accused of committing murder, torture and rape.
Dudchenko said the group had also identified 'thousands' of Ukrainian collaborators in the occupied zones and provided the details to the Ukrainian authorities.
Dudchenko says Kiborg knows that much of the huge dumps of information, often comprising many terabytes, does not seem to have an immediate value and, in any case, requires time-consuming sifting through using sophisticated specialist computer programmes, some now enhanced with Artificial Intelligence.
Kiborg and similar groups hope that the information they dig up will eventually be used for investigations into Russian war crimes and to fill in blanks and help assemble an accurate record of Moscow's actions in Ukraine.
Dudchenko says that Kiborg differs from other 'hacktivists' because they make their data available as resources to Ukrainian and foreign journalists.
In turn, hacked data about child deportations led Kiborg to investigate a Russian organisation called 'YunArmiya' - an abbreviation for 'youth army' which prepares schoolchildren, starting from pre-teen years, for military service by indoctrinating them with the Kremlin's version of history, training them to use weapons and accustoming them to life in uniform.
YunArmiya began under Putin's patronage in Russia but has set up branches in occupied parts of Ukraine. Kiborg has obtained and publicised details about Ukrainian children inducted into the YunArmiya system. Dudchenko said that some of those from areas in thrall to Moscow since 2014 had been conscripted into Russian forces and had fought and died fighting against troops from the country of their birth.
Dudchenko explained that data has provided Ukrainian intelligence agencies with a wealth of information to trace the home addresses and cars of senior Russian military officials, politicians, Ukrainian collaborators and others playing a prominent part in Moscow's aggression against Ukraine.
Ukrainian intelligence has thanked Kiborg multiple times for their information and Dudchenko knows their agents have carried out assassinations in occupied territory and inside Russia itself. But he says Kiborg has never been told if its data has led to this happening directly.
'Obviously, I am not informed of anything like that,' he said. 'But, thanks to our information, our defense forces, our special services, can use these databases to find information about our enemies.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

North Korea will always stand with Russia, leader Kim tells Putin
North Korea will always stand with Russia, leader Kim tells Putin

Reuters

time36 minutes ago

  • Reuters

North Korea will always stand with Russia, leader Kim tells Putin

SEOUL, June 12 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country will always stand with Moscow, state media reported on Thursday. In a message for Russia Day, a patriotic holiday celebrating Russia's independence, Kim called Putin his "dearest comrade" and praised their bilateral relations as a "genuine relationship between comrades-in-arms," KCNA reported. "It is an unshakable will of the government of the DPRK and of my own steadfastly to carry on the DPRK-Russia relations," Kim was quoted as saying. The DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. KCNA reported on Wednesday that Kim had sent congratulations on Russia Day to Putin. Earlier this year, Pyongyang for the first time confirmed that it had sent troops to fight for Russia in the war in Ukraine under orders from leader Kim Jong Un after months of silence.\

Lessons must be learned after publication of Day report
Lessons must be learned after publication of Day report

Edinburgh Reporter

time2 hours ago

  • Edinburgh Reporter

Lessons must be learned after publication of Day report

Lessons 'must be learned' after the publication of a report spelling out the council's handling of sexual harassment allegations against former leader Cammy Day, according to city councillors. The report found that Edinburgh council needed to improve its safeguarding measures, and that a 'prevalent' culture of hospitality needed to be looked at by the council. But it found that council officers had acted appropriately in handling complaints made to them. It also said that people who had complained about the behaviour of the former council leader experienced a 'significant perceived power imbalance' when making complaints about him. Council leader Jane Meagher said the report was 'largely reassuring' – but that recommendations made in the report needed to be carried out 'swiftly and comprehensively'. Kevin Dunion, former chair of the Standards Commission for Scotland, carried out the third party investigation that resulted in the report, which itself was commissioned by the council. Mr Dunion's investigation came after recent and historic complaints about alleged sexual harassment by former Labour council leader Cammy Day came to light. Councillor Day resigned in December 2024 soon after the first allegations were published in the press, and he was suspended from the Labour Party soon after. Multiple Ukrainian refugees said Cllr Day had sent them unsolicited images and messages on social media, even after being asked to stop. In one historic incident, which took place in 2010 and was reported in 2018, a then 15-year-old boy said he was sexually harassed online by Cllr Day. Since his resignation, a police investigation into his behaviour has found no evidence of criminality, with the former leader claiming he is the target of a political witch hunt. SNP group leader, Councillor Simita Kumar, said: 'It is imperative that lessons must be learned. 'A common thread throughout this report is that staff and complainants felt unable – or unwilling – to raise concerns due to the power and influence of the accused. 'We must establish better systems to support and protect those who come forward or the risk of abuse by those in positions of authority will persist.' Mr Dunion's report found that leaks of information about alleged leaks by councillors had impeded the city's whistleblowing process. Councillor Ed Thornley, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said: 'I want to thank Kevin Dunion for his report and the work that's gone into it. He's highlighted several issues with the way the Council's processes aren't working correctly and the gaps in them. 'It's clear reading the report that where Council officers have been aware and informed, they acted appropriately and gave sound advice in line with the agreed processes. That is not the case for councillors. 'The two leaks of confidential information by councillors seriously undermine the integrity of the systems in place, and call into question the judgement of the individuals responsible. 'Such leaks represent a deliberate and blatant breach of the Councillors' Code of Conduct. The Lib Dem group will consider Mr Dunion's recommendations thoroughly over the coming days.' Edinburgh Council's leader, Labour councillor Jane Meagher said: 'I want to thank Mr Dunion for leading this review, and for his report. 'While I'm largely reassured by Mr Dunion's findings about how recent complaints have been handled by officers, clearly, there are elements of this report which are of serious concern to us as elected members and we must act on his recommendations swiftly and comprehensively. I have already taken practical steps to begin to change the culture in the City Chambers. 'Our priority must be to nurture positive working relationships throughout the Council where colleagues feel able to speak up if something isn't right, they know and trust the channels open to them and they feel safe and supported in doing so. 'I'm fully committed to taking Mr Dunion's recommendations forward and, subject to approval by councillors next Thursday, look forward to agreeing concrete actions when officers bring a further report back in August outlining our proposed actions in response to Mr Dunion's recommendations.' Independent councillor Ross McKenzie, who was part of the Labour group until 2023, said: 'It's now up to the Labour Party to decide whether they are comfortable with Cammy Day being a Labour councillor. 'The report contains details of an extraordinarily serious allegation made in 2018 and a pattern of sexual harassment allegations since. 'If Labour are serious about safeguarding then they will have conducted an exhaustive investigation into all of these allegations.' By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter Like this: Like Related

Putin says special attention should be paid to nuclear triad in Russia's new arms programme
Putin says special attention should be paid to nuclear triad in Russia's new arms programme

Reuters

time3 hours ago

  • Reuters

Putin says special attention should be paid to nuclear triad in Russia's new arms programme

MOSCOW, June 11 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that special attention in the country's new arms programme should be paid to the nuclear triad - land-based, sea-based and aircraft-launched weapons. Putin's remarks, broadcast on state television, were made at a meeting of senior officials devoted to the country's arms industry. "Undoubtedly, special attention should be paid to the nuclear triad, which has been and will remain the guarantee of Russia's sovereignty and plays a key role in upholding the balance of forces in the world," Putin said. A total of 95% of weapons in Russia's strategic nuclear forces, he said, were fully up-to-date. "This is a good indicator and, in essence, the highest among all the world's nuclear powers," he told the gathering.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store