Russia allegedly detains thousands of Ukrainian children and subjects them to re-education

Researchers at Yale University have identified more than 210 locations where Ukrainian children are believed to be held as part of a large-scale Russian deportation program. Children aged 8 to 18 are subjected to forced “re-education,” including combat training, drone manufacturing, and ideological indoctrination.

Nearly half of these facilities are run by the Russian government. Since the invasion in 2022, up to 35,000 children may have been relocated in this way, although Russia claims that these are evacuations from war zones.

The program has since been discontinued by the Donald Trump administration. Ukraine said it had managed to bring back about 1,600 children. According to Kyiv, the issue of deported children must be part of any future peace negotiations.

(reuters, mja)