Russian occupying forces have transported more than 100,000 Ukrainian children from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts for "medical treatment," Ukraine's National Resistance Center reported on April 12.
The National Resistance Center operates under the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to the center, Russia has earmarked 1.4 billion rubles ($17 million) for the so-called "medical examination program."
The majority of Ukrainian children are recommended for treatment in Russia, and parents cannot refuse treatment without being threatened with losing their parental rights, the center said.
Since the start of 2023, 75,000 children in Donetsk Oblast were subjected to medical examinations, of which 39,000 were "prescribed to seek treatment" in Russia, according to the report.
Pathologies were "detected" in 66,000 of the 94,000 children examined in Luhansk Oblast, the National Resistance Center wrote.
Some doctors are pressuring parents into giving bribes in order for them not to report any illnesses, the National Resistance Center added.
The Ukrainian national database Children of War also shows that over 19,000 children have been abducted to Russia since Russia’a all-out invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
Ukraine has been able to bring back some of the children abducted by Russia, however, it doesn't disclose the details of this process.
Daria Herasymchuk, Ukrainian presidential advisor for children’s rights, said on April 9 that after returning to Ukraine from Russia, some children complained of beatings and other punishments for refusing to sing the Russian anthem and for mentioning that they are Ukrainians.
As punishment, Ukrainian children were not allowed to go for walks and were forced to rewrite Russian texts, she added.
According to Herasymchuk, the children said they were told that their parents “abandoned” them and that they should not return to Ukraine, where “no one is waiting for them.”
Daria Shulzhenko
(Updated: )
