LAUGHTER
These children are hiding in the basement of a church in Ukraine.
Russian forces found them.
Then they disappeared.
Thousands of Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia
since the war started.
This investigation goes in search of some of the missing, and follows a
trail of evidence that leads to the heart of power in Putin's Russia.
Victoria Novikova is investigating what happened to 48 children who
went missing from Kherson.
They disappeared after Russian forces took control of the city.
EXCITED SCREAMS
This Russian footage shows the children, all aged under five,
being taken away.
Shortly after the children were taken, Ukrainian forces regained
control of Kherson, making it possible to go there.
Victoria, who has a 15-year-old son,
decided to investigate the children's disappearance.
Returning children back to Ukraine from Russia is not easy.
It involves complex negotiations between two countries at war.
Russia says it will only consider returning a child if a parent,
or legal guardian, makes an application.
Volunteers like Victoria are helping the Ukrainian government.
It's overwhelmed with cases.
Victoria's found the mother of a child
taken from the children's home in Kherson.
Viktor was born with a serious condition
that made feeding him difficult.
He was being cared for temporarily at the children's home
while he was waiting for an operation.
Olha and her husband couldn't rescue their son from the children's home
because of heavy fighting.
They had to leave Kherson without him.
This is the first time Olha has seen the footage of the children
being taken away from the home.
VOICES ON PHONE
SHE SPEAKS UKRAINIAN
SHE SOBS
Viktor is one of around 20,000 children who, according to the
Ukrainian government, have been taken unlawfully by Russian forces
since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
The Russian government disputes this figure,
and denies deporting Ukrainian children.
Victoria is also investigating the cases of children
missing from other areas of Ukraine.
Mariupol, a city still occupied by Russian forces,
was virtually destroyed.
Children taken from there have appeared on Russian television.
The Russian government says it moves Ukrainian
children for their own safety...
..and denies using them for propaganda.
CHEERING ON PHONE
Victoria is on her way to meet the family of another missing child.
Nastya disappeared in Mariupol.
This is Nastya's grandmother, Olena.
VOICES ON PHONE
LAUGHTER ON PHONE
This is the last video of Nastya and her parents in Mariupol.
Shortly after the video was recorded,
the apartment block where they lived was shelled.
Rescuers couldn't find any trace of Nastya or her parents.
Three months later, Olena thought she had found her granddaughter.
A child who looked just like Nastya was in a report on Russian
television about Ukrainian children being fostered by Russian families.
PHONE RINGS
Maria Lebedeva works with Victoria.
She's in touch with Bohdan, who was in Mariupol
when Russian forces invaded.
Both Bohdan's parents died before the war.
He was 16 and living in care when Russian forces found him.
It's 18 months since Bohdan was taken.
He is now living with a Russian foster family.
Victoria is trying to find out more about what happened to the
children taken from the home in Kherson.
MUSIC PLAYS, SINGING
A local pastor, Pavel Smolyakov,
said they could stay in the basement of his church.
There were rumours Russian forces were looking for children.
The pastor thought they were being watched.
The children spent two months in hiding.
Then Russian soldiers arrived at the church.
The man calling himself the Navigator ordered the children
be sent back to the children's home.
Russian television gave an extraordinary reason for the move.
The man in charge, the Navigator,
is called Igor Kastyukevich.
He is a member of the Russian parliament.
Kastyukevich has been sanctioned by the US
and the UK for supporting Putin's war in Ukraine.
Three weeks later, a VIP from Moscow arrived at the children's home.
This is Anna Kuznetsova.
She's a deputy head of the Russian parliament.
Working with the Ukrainian government, Victoria has
helped Olha lodge a request with Russia for the return of her son.
The Russian government insists families travel to Russia
to get their children back.
Victoria wants Olha's sister, Liudmyla, to go with her.
Victoria and her assistant, Diana, are also investigating
what happened to another child who went missing from the
Kherson children's home.
When the home was under Russian control,
it was run by this woman - Tatiana Zavalska.
She also hosted visitors from Moscow.
Victoria finds out the woman in lilac also visited
a children's hospital nearby.
Dr Natalia Lyutikova was on duty the day the woman in lilac turned up.
At the time, a ten-month-old girl from the children's home was
being treated here for bronchitis.
She was called Margarita.
Margarita's mother had given up custody of her daughter
shortly after she was born.
The woman in lilac took a close interest in the little girl.
Within a week of the visit,
Margarita was discharged from the hospital...
..back to the children's home.
The next morning, armed men arrived and drove Margarita away.
It all happened two months before
the other children were taken from the home.
Bohdan's desperate to return to Ukraine.
He's already tried to escape from Russia.
After a week's silence, he got back in touch.
THUNDER RUMBLES
A Ukrainian lawyer, Kateryna Bobrovska,
heard about his case and agreed to help him.
KATERYNA ON PHONE:
BOHDAN ON PHONE:
Bohdan was stopped at a Russian border post.
BOHDAN ON PHONE:
NEWS ANCHOR:
Russian television filmed Bohdan
after he was returned to the foster family he was staying with.
The TV report said his failed escape
was really a Ukrainian plot to kidnap him.
The TV report claimed Ukrainian secret agents
had threatened to kill members of Bohdan's family
if he didn't go back to Ukraine.
Maria Lvova-Belova is President Putin's Children's Commissioner.
She claimed Bohdan was grateful to Russia for saving him.
Bohdan has now been made a Russian citizen.
It comes with a big risk.
Kateryna's been getting secret messages for months from Bohdan.
Olha has news about her missing son.
Viktor's in Crimea,
which was seized by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
Olha now has permission from the Russian government
to go and get Viktor.
Ukraine says so far around 400 children have been returned.
The Russian government says it's many more.
Olha and her sister Liudmyla are about to begin
the long journey to Russia.
First, they're going to Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.
It's time for Olha to say goodbye to her daughter Veronika.
Victoria's got news.
Olena's granddaughter may have been seen in occupied eastern Ukraine.
Nastya went missing in Mariupol along with her parents.
Nastya's disappearance has also been in the news in Russia.
The government says it's looking for her and blames Ukraine
for what happened.
Deputy head of the Russian parliament, Anna Kuznetsova,
is in the same news report.
She also makes outlandish claims about why Ukraine
is demanding its children back.
Three months after Bohdan's first attempt to escape Russia,
he made another.
It also failed.
Bohdan now fears he'll be conscripted into the Russian army
when he turns 18 and sent to fight his fellow Ukrainians.
It's now just two weeks before Bohdan's 18th birthday.
He's received another set of call-up papers.
Victoria and Diana have made a breakthrough
in their investigation into the disappearance of Margarita.
They have uncovered a Russian document authorising
Margarita's transfer from the Kherson children's home
to a Moscow hospital. It names the woman who took her,
Inna Varlamova.
An online search confirms she is the mysterious woman in lilac.
But with no more information, the search for Margarita goes cold.
Olha and her sister Liudmyla are leaving for Russia,
hoping to get Viktor back.
Panorama has teamed up with Russian investigators to help Victoria
and Diana find out what happened to Margarita.
Using a thriving online market for documents from inside Russia,
it's possible to find out more about the woman in lilac,
Inna Varlamova.
Train records show she travelled to Crimea on the same day
Margarita was taken from the Kherson children's home by armed men.
That night, Inna Varlamova took the train to Moscow.
The search for documents also reveals
she got married soon after she returned to Moscow.
Her husband? A high-profile Russian politician called Sergey Mironov.
He's the leader of a major political party, Just Russia.
Mironov is a key ally of President Putin.
He has been sanctioned by the UK and the EU since 2014,
when Russia annexed Crimea.
CROWD CHEERS
Further digging reveals an adoption record.
For Victoria and Diana, it's a crucial breakthrough.
Margarita's date of birth is on the adoption record.
It shows her name has been changed to Marina,
her place of birth to Russia,
and her new parents as Inna Varlamova and Sergey Mironov.
The documents show a key ally of Vladimir Putin adopted
a child after his wife had taken her from Ukraine.
Under international law, removing a child from their home country
with no intention of giving them back is a war crime.
This year, a documentary about Sergey Mironov's life
was broadcast on Russian television.
There is a recent addition to Mironov's gallery.
A painting of him holding a girl around Margarita's age.
Almost two weeks after leaving Ukraine for Russia,
Olha and her sister are due to return with Viktor.
PHONE RINGS
Bohdan's left another secretly recorded message for his lawyer.
He's been told by a Russian official he might be allowed
to return to Ukraine, but he doesn't believe them.
Time's running out.
As soon as Bohdan turns 18, he can be called up to the Russian army.
Bohdan and his lawyer decide they can't stay silent any longer.
They release a video on social media pleading for action,
and asking the Ukrainian President for help.
VIKTOR LAUGHS