Abducted Ukrainian children held at least at 210 sites in Russia and occupied territories – HRL
At least 210 facilities in Russia and the occupied Ukrainian territories are used to illegally deport children, detached from their Ukrainian identity, and “re-educated” them based on Russian ideology and a militaristic worldview, according to the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL).
“The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) has concluded that children from Ukraine have been taken to at least 210 facilities inside Russia and temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,” HRL said on its website Tuesday.
It is noted that this report is the fourth in a series by the Yale School of Public Health Humanitarian Research Lab (Yale HRL) examining Russia’s transfer, re-education, and militarization of children from Ukraine since 2022.
It is reported that children from Ukraine were subjected to re-education at more than half (62.9%) of the facilities and underwent militarization in at least 18% of facilities identified by HRL. More than half of the facilities which children from Ukraine were taken are managed by the Russian government.
As noted by the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) with reference to HRL, there is information that Ukrainian children were placed at a recreation center of the Presidential Property Management Department of the Russian Federation. Thus, in Moscow region complex Snegiry they created the Young Patriot center, where children are subjected to systematic "re-education". Researchers recorded cases when children were transported on planes belonging to the Presidential Property Management Department of the Russian Federation to participate in military programs. At dozens of facilities, children aged 8 and older were taught shooting, grenade throwing, tactical medicine and drone control.
Most of these locations are also reported to host "cultural and patriotic" events that promote Russian ideology and tear children away from their Ukrainian identity. Analysts point out that the actual number of such places may be even higher, and the fate of many children remains unknown.
“HRL can conclude that Russia is operating a potentially unprecedented system of large-scale re-education, military training, and dormitory facilities capable of holding tens of thousands of children from Ukraine for long periods of time. While this study does not answer the question of how many children from Ukraine are currently in Russia’s custody, it does reveal the logistical and operational capacity committed to Russifying children taken from their home communities in Ukraine. This is the first detailed effort to study the number, types, and roles of locations utilized by Russia’s federal government, particularly regarding re-education and militarization, in efforts to Russify Ukraine’s children,” the Lab’s report reads.
The Center for Countering Disinformation previously reported that ru-propaganda has stepped up its information campaign to justify the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. "The Kremlin is trying to present this crime as a ‘humanitarian mission’ or ‘rescue from shelling,’ while simultaneously spreading fakes about Ukraine's alleged ‘evacuation’ of children to Europe with separation from their parents. This is a typical tactic of information cover-up for its own war crimes, blaming others for this," the Center for Countering Disinformation noted.
On July 25, Advisor to the Head of the President’s Office of Ukraine Daria Zarivna reported that within the framework of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back UA, 1,458 children have already been returned, but more than 1.6 million Ukrainian children remain under the control of the enemy. After that, more than 55 children, teenagers and young men, as well as some of their parents, returned from the occupied territory to Ukraine within the framework of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative.
