Mum dubbed ‘Putin’s childcatcher’ over kidnapping of Ukrainian kids sanctioned by UK

A Russian teacher labelled “Vladimir Putin’s childcatcher” has been sanctioned by the UK over the mass kidnap of Ukrainian youngsters.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that Russia has already abducted over 200,000 children, tearing apart families and taking them from orphanages.

Maria Lvova-Belova was made the country's Children’s Rights Commissioner just last year.

She has been portrayed as a hero in Russia for supposedly ‘saving’ kids in Ukraine ’s war-ravaged Donbas region.

But Britain believe she is having them ‘violently’ kidnapped - and has moved to cripple the 37-year-old.

Maria Lvova-Belova, 37, has been dubbed ‘Putin’s childcatcher’ (SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Lvova-Belova, who has five biological and 17 adopted children, is accused of facilitating a scheme in which thousands of youngsters were taken to Russia against their will for forced adoptions.

But the Foreign Office has accused the woman of bringing “untold suffering” to families.

They allege Lvova-Belova was also behind the removal of 2,000 "vulnerable children from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions” of Ukraine.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss ordered her assets to be frozen immediately.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has acted to target Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner (via REUTERS)

She was also hit with a travel ban, restricting her movements outside of Russia.

Ms Truss said: “We are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of Putin’s war.”

A government source said: “Lvova-Belova’s actions — transporting children in distress against their will — are at odds with all accepted international norms.”

The United Nations issued a statement earlier this week warning Russian authorities that they cannot just assume children are orphans.

The mother has been accused of bringing “untold suffering” to families (SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

“Any decision to move any child must be grounded in their best interests and any movement must be voluntary. Parents need to provide informed consent,” UN Children’s Fund regional director for Europe and Central Asia Asfhan Khan said.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova wrote in a statement earlier this month: “From the testimony of those who have saved themselves, we know about these horrors that Russian troops are forcibly transporting people to Russia, where the children are separated from their mothers.

"They then send the mothers to Sakhalin, and the children to other cities. Is this really the 21st century?"