Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) and Prosecutor General's Office announced new suspicions in absentia against Vladimir Saldo, the head of the Russian occupation administration in part of the Kherson region, on October 26. Ukrainian investigators accuse him of organizing the unlawful transfer of underage students from the Kherson Vocational Shipbuilding Lyceum to Russian-occupied Crimea in autumn 2022.
According to investigators, representatives of the occupation authorities organized the children's removal from Kherson on October 7, 2022, under the pretext of sending them to health resorts.
The students were first taken by bus to the river port, then transported by boat to the left bank of the Dnipro River. From there, they were taken to Crimea by other vehicles.
Two other people were notified of suspicions alongside Saldo: Viktor Loginov, a former Russian serviceman who served as deputy director of the lyceum under the occupation administration, and teacher Nikolai Dolzhenko.
According to the SBU, Loginov entered fictitious information into the institution's records to conceal the unlawful nature of the children's transfer. Investigators allege that Dolzhenko accompanied the students during the journey.
Ukrainian law enforcement authorities say the case concerns three minors. All three subsequently returned to territory controlled by Ukraine.
The suspects' actions have been classified under Article 28, Part 2, and Article 438, Part 1, of Ukraine's Criminal Code, concerning violations of the laws and customs of war committed by a group acting in prior conspiracy.
The SBU cited the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forcible transfer and deportation of protected civilians from occupied territory except in circumstances permitted under international humanitarian law.
Saldo was previously convicted in absentia by a Ukrainian court in a separate criminal case. The new suspicions constitute a distinct episode of prosecution and do not mean that a court has already established his guilt in the alleged unlawful transfer of children.
Russian occupation authorities continue to control the left-bank part of the Kherson region. The SBU's statement did not include Saldo's response to the new allegations.