A French actor has written a thriller about Ukrainian children abducted by Russia
29 April 08:19
French actor Jean Reno, known for his roles in the films *Léon*, *Wasabi*, and *Red Rivers*, has published a novel titled *L’Évasion* (*The Escape*). The plot centers on the story of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, who are being held in Siberia and subjected to ideological re-education. This is stated on the publisher’s website, and Reno himself spoke about it in an interview with Télé 7, reports "Komersant Ukrainian"
The book was published by the French publishing house XO Éditions in early April 2026. Jean Reno himself said in an interview with the French publication Télé 7 that real-life news reports about the deportation of Ukrainian children by Russia served as the impetus for writing the novel.
What Jean Reno’s novel “The Escape” is about
At the center of the novel’s plot is a woman named Emma, a former massage therapist recruited by the French foreign intelligence service DGSE. Under cover, she travels to Siberia to infiltrate a closed Russian facility.
According to the plot, this is where the abducted Ukrainian children are taken. The heroine must document crimes related to forced detention, ideological pressure, and attempts to erase the children’s Ukrainian identity.
The novel combines elements of a spy thriller and a fictional story based on real events from the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Why Jean Reno took on this topic
Jean Reno explained that he was shocked by reports of thousands of Ukrainian children whom Russia had taken from the occupied territories.
“I thought it was madness that these children were taken away to be brainwashed. I’m not involved in politics; I wanted to turn this into a novel,” Jean Reno said in an interview with Télé 7.
For the actor, this topic became not a political slogan, but the basis for a work of fiction intended to draw readers’ attention to one of the war’s most severe humanitarian crises.
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How many Ukrainian children has Russia deported?
Ukraine has officially documented tens of thousands of cases of deportation and forced displacement of children. According to the Bring Kids Back UA platform, there are over 20,000 records of possible deportation or forced displacement of children by Russia.
In April 2026, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that 2,100 children had already been returned as part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative.
At the same time, it is difficult to determine the exact number of abducted or forcibly displaced children, as parts of Ukrainian territory remain under Russian occupation.
ICC Arrest Warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova
The deportation of Ukrainian children has become one of the key international crimes for which Russia is being prosecuted at the international level.
On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. They are suspected of the illegal deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia.
The ICC classifies these actions as war crimes. Russia denies the charges, but international organizations and Ukrainian authorities insist that this is not an “evacuation” but a systematic removal of children, changing their environment, citizenship, and identity.
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