Russia reportedly abducted as many as 2,000 children from Ukraine into Russia since Jan. 1, Michael Carpenter, the U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE, said on Jan. 13.
Russian forces have unlawfully transferred or deported thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, violating the Geneva Conventions, Carpenter said.
As of Dec. 22, 2022, Ukrainian authorities quoted by a Detektor Media investigation said that more than 13,000 thousand children were forcibly removed from Ukraine by Russia.
The Ukrainian military’s National Resistance Center said on Jan. 10 that the Russian military is compiling lists of those who can be mobilized into the army after graduation, starting with those who will come of age in 2023.
The center also said that children born in 2005-2006 in Russian-occupied territories in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts must already register for compulsory military service.
“This advance planning to use Ukraine’s children as cannon fodder for Russia’s war is – I have no other words – it’s just plain evil,” Carpenter said.“It would also be a violation of the laws of war for Russia to conscript citizens of Ukraine from the areas Russia occupies.”
