Police Bust Massive Ukraine Pedophile Ring Involving Russian Children – Media Blackout

Ukrainian police have busted a massive pedophile ring in Ukraine, involving dozens of Russian children, according to reports.

A Ukrainian man has been arrested and 15 young children, all Russians currently residing in Russia, identified, but prosecutors in Kyiv have said they are not able to trace other victims or arrest other suspects because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Theguardian.com reports: “These kinds of crimes are unfortunately common everywhere, in Ukraine and Europe,” said Oleh Tkalenko, a senior prosecutor for the Kyiv region, who led the investigation. “But what terrifies us is the large scale of these crimes in Russia.”

“The victims of these crimes are the most vulnerable segments of the population,” Tkalenko said. “Parents who push their children to do this are extremely poor. And it’s really hard to stop these files from spreading. And it’s really frustrating because, due to the conflict, all our contacts with Russian colleagues have been cut.”

The investigation began in June, when the Ukrainian police’s cybercrime unit received information that a large number of child sexual abuse images were being downloaded and stored in the Kyiv region.

Prosecutors a month later searched a house in Bucha where files containing more than 100,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse were found.

“We immediately tried to identify the children and victims of these crimes who were involved in the network,” Tkalenko said. “And we were shocked when we found out that they were all Russian citizens. We have identified 15 of them so far, but we are talking of dozens of children involved.”

Some of the victims were as young as nine years of age and came from various areas of Russia, including Moscow, Kaliningrad and Krasnodar.

The suspect has been placed under house arrest by judges pending a verdict. If convicted, the man faces up to five years in prison.