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Russia is reportedly holding children abducted from Ukraine not only on its own territory but also in Belarus and North Korea, according to Kateryna Rashevska, an expert at the Regional Human Rights Center. Speaking at a U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, she said that at least 165 camps have been established, where children are being militarized and subjected to Russification.
The Kremlin presents the abductions as “evacuations.” However, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) does not yet have lists of the children. Russian authorities have not provided legal grounds for holding them, nor have they facilitated voluntary returns. Instead, Rashevska said, children face deportation, acquisition of Russian citizenship, adoption, and full Russification, according to the Strategic Communications Center Spravdi.
