Legitimizing atrocity crimes against children in Ukraine: the Kremlin’s instrumentalization of international law on children’s protection in Russian political discourse

Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian state has committed atrocity crimes against Ukrainian children. The Kremlin has mobilized international legal discourse to justify its policies of forcible transfer of Ukrainian children while contesting accountability mechanisms. Drawing on an original database of 349 documents from media and government outlets, this article examines how Russia itself constructs and deploys these narratives. Two themes emerge: first, ontological logics underpin the Kremlin’s construction of childhood as a site of imperial intervention and portray Ukraine as incapable of safeguarding its children; second, Russia’s discourse invokes legal frameworks to justify its actions while challenging international child protection norms. Through Russia's wartime policies toward Ukrainian children, we argue that childhood is not merely a domain through which law is instrumentalized but a category through which legal authority and political subjectivity are produced. Challenging these justifications remains central to peacebuilding efforts and holding Russian actors accountable.