Russia has brought about 700 000 children from the conflict zones in Ukraine into Russian territory, a senior official, Grigory Karasin, head of the international committee in the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, has said.
Reuters reports that Karasin wrote on his Telegram account: ‘In recent years, 700 000 children have found refuge with us, fleeing the bombing and shelling from the conflict areas in Ukraine.’
However, Ukraine says many children have been illegally deported and the US says thousands of children have been forcibly removed from their homes.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion on its western neighbour Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow says its programme of bringing children from Ukraine into Russian territory is to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.
Reuters says that most of the movement of people and children occurred in the first few months of the war, and before Ukraine started its major counteroffensive to regain occupied territories in the east and south in late August.
In July 2022, the US estimated that Russia ‘forcibly deported’ 260 000 children, while Ukraine’s ministry of integration of occupied territories says 19 492 Ukrainian children are now considered illegally deported.
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