Russian proxies in Luhansk Oblast discussed sending Ukrainian children to the Republic of Karelia in Russia, the National Resistance Center, an organization operated by Ukraine’s Special Forces, reported on Feb. 4.
According to the National Resistance Center, Russian proxies in Luhansk Oblast met with the Republic of Karelia’s Legislative Assembly Chair Elissan Shandalovich.
The two parties reportedly discussed sending children in occupied Luhansk Oblast to the “beautiful resorts” of Karelia for so-called “rest” and “rehabilitation.”
On Feb. 2, the National Resistance Center reported that Russia abducted 50 high school students from occupied Lysychansk in Luhansk Oblast to Tatarstan in Russia.
Russia reportedly offered Ukrainian children who had been forcibly deported a scholarship at Russian universities should they pass relevant exams in Russia.
The center said the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia aims to “assimilate the youth.”
Thousands of children from Ukraine’s Russia-occupied territories are thought to have been subjected to forced deportation to Russia.
On Jan. 18, Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraine’s presidential advisor for children’s rights and rehabilitation, reported that Russia had abducted almost 14,000 Ukrainian children. Only 125 of them have been returned to Ukraine.
