Extended Eurojust joint investigation team to coordinate cases of children transferred from Ukraine

Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Friday that the mandate of a joint investigation team (JIT) established at Eurojust to probe war crimes committed in Ukraine has been extended by two years.

The team, which includes prosecutors and investigators from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine, will now focus additional efforts on the unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children, their deportation to Russia and Belarus, and related crimes.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, close cross-border cooperation has already supported national prosecutions in Ukraine and led to the identification of suspects in Lithuania. The JIT was set up in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has since investigated a range of international crimes, including genocide and offences committed at prisoner-of-war camps.

The flexible structure of the team has allowed rapid responses to emerging crimes, swift information exchange and sharing of best practices. “Legal cooperation within the JIT framework has proven essential for the criminal prosecution of these offences,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.

It noted that Lithuanian authorities have identified four suspects accused of unlawful deprivation of liberty and torture of Ukrainian civilians and one Lithuanian citizen at Melitopol airport. In October 2025, one suspect—a Russian soldier and prisoner of war in Ukraine—was extradited to Lithuania. Lithuanian investigators have also identified three people suspected of involvement in the killing of Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius in Mariupol.

The four-year collaboration has established a reliable platform for prosecutors working toward a common goal, prompting the decision to extend the team’s work.