Russia has built a large-scale system for the detention and forced ‘re-education’ of Ukrainian children taken from temporarily occupied territories. Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health have documented at least 210 such facilities in Russia and the occupied regions of Ukraine. Experts emphasise that this is only the confirmed part, and the actual number may be significantly higher.
According to the report, children are held in cadet schools, military bases, monasteries, hospitals, orphanages and educational institutions, but most of all in sanatoriums and summer camps. In these places, minors are forced to study Russian culture, undergo militarised programmes and even participate in combat training.
In particular, there have been cases where children from Donetsk Oblast were taken to a military base in the Russian Federation, where they underwent paratrooper training. The transportation was carried out by planes belonging to the Russian Presidential Administration, which had previously been used to forcibly remove Ukrainian children as part of adoption programmes.
In addition to military training, minors were involved in tactical medicine, drone control and even the assembly of drones for the needs of the Russian army. Children aged 8 to 17 participated in the programmes.
Researchers note that 106 of the documented facilities are under the control of the Russian government, and another 49 were expanded after the start of the full-scale invasion. This was probably done to accommodate more Ukrainian children.
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