Russia sends Ukrainian children to North Korean military camps – human rights activist
Some Ukrainian children whom Russia deported from occupied territories are being sent to military camps in North Korea, Regional Center for Human Rights expert Kateryna Rashevska said during a U.S. Senate hearing.
This was stated by Kateryna Rashevska, an expert at the regional human rights center, during hearings in the US Senate.
She reported that 165 military camps have been documented where Ukrainian children are being militarized and Russified. These camps operate both on occupied territories and inside Russia, Belarus, and on North Korean soil.
Rashevska showed photos of 12-year-old Misha from occupied Donetsk Oblast and 16-year-old Liza from occupied Simferopol who were sent to a camp in North Korea — more than 9,000 kilometers from home.
“Children there were taught to ‘destroy Japanese militarists’ and met Korean veterans who, in 1968, attacked the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, killing and wounding nine American soldiers,” she said.
Deportation of Ukrainian children
As of October this year, Ukraine has confirmed the illegal removal of more than 19,000 children.
Returning these children is a joint effort. Last year the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children was formed, comprising 41 countries and the Council of Europe.
In 2023 the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on suspicion of illegally abducting Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia. In July 2023 Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office opened an investigation into the Belarusian Red Cross’s involvement in the deportation of children.
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