Surrogacy in Ukraine During the War: 2026 Status Update

As of May 2026, Ukrainian surrogacy programs continue to operate in western Ukraine and in Kyiv under documented contingency protocols. The legal framework established by Article 123 of the Family Code is unchanged. Partner clinics, licensed attorneys and civil registries are functioning. Intended parents from the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Israel, Australia and many other countries have completed programs in Ukraine in every year from 2022 through 2025.

That is the operational reality. What changed is the discipline. Modern Ukrainian programs run with written contingency plans, alternate delivery hospitals, alternate embassy exit routes and expanded insurance — and serious agencies have stopped onboarding cases for any geography that does not meet those standards. This article is the honest 2026 status report: where programs operate, what evolved between 2022 and 2026, when we recommend Ukraine, and when we redirect intended parents to Georgia, Colombia, Mexico or the USA instead.

Quick answer — is surrogacy in Ukraine safe in 2026?

Conditionally yes. In western Ukraine (Lviv, Uzhhorod) and in Kyiv with documented contingencies, partner programs have run continuously throughout the war with no recorded harm to surrogates or newborns in the Militta partner network. The legal framework is intact. Programs in eastern and southern regions are not currently offered. The safety margin is built into the contract — alternate hospital, alternate embassy, evacuation insurance — not assumed.

How Ukrainian surrogacy programs evolved 2022 to 2026

The Ukrainian surrogacy sector has gone through four phases since February 2022. Understanding that arc is the fastest way to understand what a program looks like today.

• 2022 — the stranded-baby phase. In the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, international airspace closed and intended parents could not enter Ukraine to collect newborns whose surrogates had already delivered. The widely reported cases of stranded surrogacy babies date from this period. The situation was resolved within weeks through coordinated agency, embassy and volunteer action — but it reset every assumption the sector had previously made about contingency planning. [VERIFY: number of newborns affected in February–March 2022 and source — Ministry of Foreign Affairs press releases or BioTexCom public reporting are likely the best citations.]
• 2023 — the relocation phase. Reputable clinics relocated embryo storage and clinical operations to western Ukraine, primarily Lviv and Uzhhorod, where infrastructure was stable and Polish-border evacuation was hours away rather than days. Surrogate placement increasingly favoured western regions, with surrogates relocated before the third trimester from any region of residual risk.
• 2024 — the protocol-maturation phase. Contracts standardised around the four-clause contingency structure that now characterises every Militta-partner program: alternate delivery hospital, alternate embassy route, expanded insurance with evacuation cover, and a rebalanced escrow structure that releases milestone payments only when each contingency is documented as ready.
• 2025–2026 — standardised wartime operations. Programs now run as a routine — not as an exception. Intended-parent visits to Lviv have become unremarkable (the road route from Kraków takes about four hours and is used daily by international clients). Civil registries, notaries and apostille offices have run without disruption in the relevant regions. [VERIFY: number of completed Militta Ukraine programs 2023–2025 inclusive, to quantify scale.]

Where Militta partner programs operate today

We currently run programs in three Ukrainian locations, each with a documented purpose and a documented contingency.

• Lviv. The primary surrogacy hub in 2026 for international intended parents. Reproductive clinics in Lviv are mature and operating at full capacity, surrogates are screened and housed in the region, and deliveries take place at licensed Lviv maternity hospitals. The Polish border is approximately 70 km away.
• Uzhhorod. A secondary western hub used primarily for surrogate placement and for intended parents who prefer proximity to the Slovak, Hungarian or Romanian borders. Clinical work coordinates with Lviv partner centres.
• Kyiv (with contingencies). Kyiv-based partner clinics continue to operate, with embryo work and IVF cycles running on schedule. Delivery in Kyiv is offered only with a documented alternate-hospital plan and an alternate embassy route — for most cases we now default to Lviv delivery even when the IVF cycle was run in Kyiv.

We do not currently onboard cases for delivery in eastern or southern Ukraine. If a clinic offers you those geographies, we would advise asking a great deal of detailed questions about the contingency plan and escrow structure before signing.

What happened to the surrogate babies stranded in 2022

It is one of the questions intended parents ask most often — and it deserves a direct answer. In the first weeks of the war, several dozen newborns born to surrogate mothers in Ukraine could not immediately travel home because international airspace was closed and intended parents could not enter Ukraine. [VERIFY: best public estimate is approximately 50 to 100 newborns at the peak in February–March 2022, sources include Ministry of Foreign Affairs statements and BioTexCom press conferences — the operator should pick a citable figure and source.]

Within roughly six to eight weeks the situation had been resolved through a combination of agency-led volunteer evacuations, embassy coordination, and intended parents themselves entering Ukraine via the Polish or Romanian land border. No recorded harm to the newborns occurred during this period, but the experience was traumatic for every family involved and exposed an obvious gap in how surrogacy programs were structured before 2022.

Modern Ukrainian surrogacy contracts — every Militta-partner program included — now build the response to that exact scenario into the contract from day one. The contingency clauses describe what happens if intended parents cannot enter Ukraine at the moment of birth, who has custody of the newborn in the interim, where the baby is housed, who funds the interim care, and what the alternate exit route looks like. The lessons of 2022 are baked into the paperwork; they are no longer a question of improvisation.

Current contingency protocols every Militta program includes

Every Ukrainian program we onboard in 2026 carries four contingency clauses, all in writing, all signed before any embryo transfer.

• Alternate delivery hospital. A named primary delivery hospital and at least one named alternate in a different city. The alternate is activated automatically if the primary becomes unavailable for any reason; no client decision is required at the moment of trigger.
• Alternate embassy exit route. The primary route is your home-country embassy in Kyiv. The alternate is the same country’s embassy in Warsaw, Bucharest or Chișinău, selected based on which is most accessible from the delivery hospital. The alternate route is pre-approved by Militta’s legal team with the relevant embassy before the third trimester so it is ready when needed, not improvised.
• Extended insurance with evacuation cover. Standard prenatal and delivery insurance for the surrogate is supplemented by an evacuation rider covering relocation of the surrogate and newborn within Ukraine or across the border if conditions require. The rider also covers extended hospital stay if the alternate hospital is used.
• Expanded escrow structure. Milestone payments to the clinic, surrogate and legal team are released only when each contingency is documented as ready for that milestone. If a clinic stops meeting the contingency requirements, the remaining escrow is held and the program is paused or redirected, on the intended parents’ instruction.

Insurance coverage in wartime — what is different

Pre-2022, a standard Ukrainian surrogacy program insured the surrogate for pregnancy and delivery, and provided baseline health cover for the newborn for the first weeks post-birth. That baseline still exists, but every Militta-partner program now adds three further layers:

• Evacuation cover for the surrogate and the newborn, including ground transport within Ukraine and cross-border transport to a named alternate facility if conditions require.
• Extended-stay cover in the alternate delivery hospital, including obstetric and neonatal care beyond the standard post-delivery window.
• Intended-parent travel cover for the delivery visit, including cancellation and rerouting if airspace or border conditions change between booking and travel.

Premiums are higher than pre-war baselines — [VERIFY: typical premium uplift expressed as a percentage, or as a dollar add-on per program, for the May 2026 market] — but the cover is now structured to match the scenario rather than to assume it away.

Exit procedures by nationality

The legal status of children born through Ukrainian surrogacy is unchanged by the war: both intended parents appear on the Ukrainian birth certificate from day one under Article 123. The exit procedure — how that Ukrainian birth certificate is recognised by your home country, and how the child gets a passport — varies by nationality and is the single most variable part of the program.

• USA. CRBA + US passport at the Kyiv embassy, or via the alternate route at the US embassy in Warsaw if Kyiv is unavailable. See the full procedure in our Surrogacy in Ukraine for US Citizens guide.
• UK. Parental order applied for after return to the UK, plus a Ukrainian birth certificate and a Home Office travel document for the child.
• Germany, France, Italy. Recognition procedures vary and are the most complex of the common European cases. We brief you on the specific path for your nationality before any contract is signed.
• Spain, Netherlands. Recent case law has clarified the recognition path; we walk through it with you on the first call.

When we recommend NOT to choose Ukraine

Ukraine is the cost-effective European option for married heterosexual couples with a medical indication. It is the wrong choice for several specific situations, and we tell you so on the first call rather than on-boarding the case and hoping for the best.

• If you are a same-sex couple, a single parent, or unmarried. You are not eligible under Article 123. See our single-parent surrogacy guide for the three alternative jurisdictions — Colombia, Mexico and the USA.
• If you cannot travel to Ukraine. Some intended parents — for personal, professional or security reasons — cannot enter Ukraine at all. A fully remote program is technically possible up to the embryo-creation phase, but the delivery and exit procedure still require an in-country visit by at least one intended parent. If that is not viable for you, we recommend Georgia as the closest European alternative.
• If you want outcome certainty above all else. The USA remains the highest-certainty jurisdiction in the world, supported by state-level statutes and pre-birth parentage orders. If your tolerance for any scenario-based contingency is low, the price differential is worth it. See Surrogacy in the USA.
• If your timeline allows no margin. Ukrainian programs are predictable but not maximally fast. Colombia and Mexico typically match faster.

Frequently asked questions

• Is it safe to do surrogacy in Ukraine right now?
  It depends on which region of Ukraine and which agency. In May 2026, partner programs operating in western Ukraine (Lviv, Uzhhorod) and in Kyiv with documented contingency plans have run continuously for the full course of the war with no recorded harm to surrogates or newborns in our partner network. Programs in eastern and southern regions are not currently offered. Militta will not onboard a case without a written, current security plan and escrow for the whole program.
• Has Ukraine kept its surrogacy laws during the war?
  Yes. Article 123 of the Family Code, Article 48 of the Fundamentals of Ukrainian Health Care Legislation and Order No. 787 of the Ministry of Health have all remained in force throughout the war. Intended parents are still recognised as the legal parents of the child from the moment of birth, and the birth certificate procedure has continued to function in licensed Ukrainian hospitals.
• What if the war affects the pregnancy?
  Every Militta-partner program now includes contingency clauses: alternate delivery hospital, surrogate relocation policy, evacuation cover under extended insurance, and an alternate embassy exit route through Warsaw, Bucharest or Chișinău. The contingencies are written into the contract from day one and tested on every case, not invoked only in emergency.
• Can I travel to Ukraine for the program?
  Yes. Lviv airport is closed, but the land route via Poland (Kraków → Lviv by road, roughly 4 hours) is fully operational, frequently used by international intended parents, and supported by Militta’s driver and translator services. Kyiv is also accessible via the same Polish entry plus an onward train. Air travel into Ukrainian territory is not currently available.
• What if the embassy can't process my baby's documents?
  For most nationalities the home-country embassy in Kyiv processes baby documents as it did pre-war. For nationalities whose embassy operates on a reduced footprint, the contract includes an alternate consular route — typically the same country’s embassy in Warsaw or Bucharest. Militta’s legal team coordinates this in advance so the alternate route is pre-approved before delivery.

Note on currency of information: This report is current as of May 2026. Conditions on the ground in Ukraine can change. We refresh this page on a rolling basis and revise our recommendations when materially relevant. For the most current operational status of a specific Militta-partner program, request a consultation and we will brief you in writing.

Request a free consultation with a Militta Ukraine specialist →