Russian officials announced plans to move approximately 53,000 children from occupied Ukrainian territories to various camps throughout Russia and occupied areas of Ukraine during the upcoming summer months, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on 28 April.
According to ISW’s analysis, Russian First Deputy Education Minister Alexander Bugayev said on 27 April that these children will “spend their summer holidays” in children’s camps across occupied Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
“Donetsk People’s Republic” Head Denis Pushilin reportedly said on 22 April that his administration will send 2,500 children to the Artek camp in occupied Crimea, the Orlyonok camp in Krasnodar Krai, and several other facilities, according to the ISW.
Pushilin also claimed that 13,000 children will “rest” in various Russian federal subjects. Teenagers aged 14 to 17 will continue to be sent to Russia through the University Shifts program.
ISW categorized these summer camps as “re-education camps that aim to indoctrinate Ukrainian children through academic instruction, military training, and military-patriotic education.”
The report distinguishes between “forcible transfer/removal” and “deportation” under international law. The former occurs when an occupying power moves people within internationally-recognized national boundaries, while the latter involves forced removal outside national boundaries.
“Occupation authorities are not only increasing the scale of these deportations but also institutionalizing them as part of a long-term strategy to separate Ukrainian children from their identity and more broadly Russify occupied Ukraine,” ISW reported.
The analysis said that these efforts align with “the Kremlin’s broader campaign to erase Ukrainian identity by assimilating the next generation of Ukrainians into a manufactured Russian national narrative.”
ISW researchers previously identified 43 facilities involved in the removal/deportation and re-education of Ukrainian children, including 41 pre-existing summer camps in occupied Ukraine and Russia.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova on suspicion of illegal deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children.
Read also:
- Ukrainian refugees in US received erroneous deportation threats
- RFE/RL: US cuts funding for Yale research about Ukrainian children deportations to Russia
- US may have destroyed evidence of Russian deportation of Ukrainian children – Reuters
