Russia Involves Abducted Ukrainian Children in Military Actions
Russia is using children illegally taken from occupied Ukrainian territories, involving them in hostilities against Ukraine, constituting a serious violation of international law.
The Gaze writes on it, referring to UNIAN, citing The Times.
It is reported that since 2014, Russia has forcibly taken away more than 35,000 Ukrainian children. Many of them end up in the Russian army after reaching adulthood.
The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, confirmed that the Ukrainian government has documentary evidence, including conscription lists and information about deceased minors.
Nathaniel Raymond of Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab stated that his team is investigating numerous cases of abducted children being involved in combat operations. He stressed that this widespread phenomenon is forced mobilization, not re-education, and constitutes the largest abduction of children since World War II.
A total of 116 institutions detaining Ukrainian children have been identified. Upon leaving these facilities, teenagers are sent to cadet schools to receive weapons training.
“They made us sing the Russian national anthem, did physical training, and taught us how to shoot,” said 19-year-old Vlad Rudenko from Kherson, who was kidnapped in 2022 and sent to a re-education camp in Crimea for 18 months. He was lucky enough that his mother managed to get him out of there.
The Gaze previously reported that reduced U.S. aid and the Trump administration's sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) hinder efforts to find Ukrainian children abducted by Russian forces during the war.