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A Ukrainian official in the Kherson region has accused Russia of forcibly deporting an entire orphanage to Russian-occupied territories or the country itself, adding that some of the children have been fast-tracked for adoption.
In a statement to Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform on Monday, Kherson Oblast Council’s deputy Serhii Khlan said that at least 50 children were forcibly sent to the city of Krasnodar in southern Russia.
“It happened without any agreements. Children are taken to Crimea and Russia. More than 50 children from Kherson were sent to the Krasnodar region. The Russians are planning to use the rest of the people who are being transported to the left bank of Kherson region as human shields,” Khlan said in the statement.
The Russians were previously also accused of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children to occupied territories. Last week, a 14-year-old girl identified only as Anya told The New York Times that she was taken by Russian soldiers against her will at one of the many checkpoints surrounding the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Anya is now living with a foster family near Moscow and is on track to becoming a Russian citizen. However, she said she only wants to be returned to her family and friends in Ukraine.
“I didn’t want to go,” said Anya. “But nobody asked me.”
Lyudmila Denisova, the Ukrainian Ombudswoman for Human Rights, first accused Russia of crafting a legislation that allowed it to forcibly put Ukrainian children taken by military forces up for adoption, in a Facebook post in April.
It is believed that up to 8,732 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported by the Russian army since the war began in February, according to a tally by Kyiv’s Children of War initiative. However, the initiative noted that the real figures are difficult to track due to active hostilities and occupation in some areas.
In September, U.S. officials accused Maria Alexeyevna Lvova-Belova, Russia’s President Commissioner for Children’s Rights, of overseeing the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children as well as imposing “patriotic education” among the Ukrainian youth.
Russia has refused to give a number for how many Ukrainian children have already been brought over to its territory since February. However, it frequently broadcasts the arrival of children it describes as “Ukrainian orphans,” as per the Associated Press.
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