Russia holding more than 6,000 Ukrainian children: Report

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - More than 6,000 Ukrainian children are being held by Russia at a network of reeducation facilities, according to a US government-sponsored report.

The children, aged four months to 17 years old, have been held at camps and other facilities since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, said the report by the Conflict Observatory.

The report was prepared by program partner the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, or Yale HRL.

The network spans at least 43 facilities identified by Yale HRL, 41 of which are pre-existing summer camps in Russia-occupied Crimea and Russia.

According to the report, the primary purpose of the camps appears to be political reeducation. In addition, the children were either taken to recreational camps or facilities used for foster care or adoption in Russia and Crimea and some were adopted or placed with foster families in Russia.

"This operation is centrally coordinated by Russia’s federal government and involves every level of government," said the report.

The State Department warned that the devastating impacts of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine’s children will be felt for generations.

"The United States will stand with Ukraine and pursue accountability for Russia’s appalling abuses for as long as it takes," said the department in a release.