Russia has transferred 700,000 children from Ukraine’s combat zones into Russian territory, according to Grigory Karasin, head of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, late on Sunday.
“In recent years, 700,000 children have found refuge with us, fleeing the bombing and shelling from conflict areas in Ukraine,” Karasin posted on his Telegram messaging channel.
In February 2022, Russia started a full-scale invasion of its western neighbour Ukraine. Moscow claims that its plan of bringing children from Ukraine into Russian territory is intended to protect orphans and abandoned youngsters in crisis zones.
However, Ukraine claims that many children have been deported illegally, while the United States claims that thousands of children have been forcibly removed from their homes.
The majority of the movement of people and children occurred in the early months of the war, before to Ukraine’s massive counter-offensive to reclaim occupied territory in the east and south, which began in late August.
The US projected that Russia “forcibly deported” 260,000 children in July 2022, while Ukraine’s Ministry of Integration of Occupied Territories reports that 19,492 Ukrainian children are presently deemed illegally deported.
Source: Reuters
