At least 210 facilities in Russia and on temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories are being used for the illegal detention of deported Ukrainian children, with the aim of erasing their Ukrainian identity and “re-educating” them according to Russian ideology and militaristic worldview, according to the Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at Yale University.
“The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) has concluded that children from Ukraine have been taken to at least 210 facilities inside Russia and temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,” the HRL reported on its website on Tuesday.
This is the fourth report in a series by HRL examining the transportation, re-education, and militarization of Ukrainian children by Russia since 2022. The findings show that over half of the facilities (62.9%) subjected children to re-education programs, while at least 18% included military training. More than half of the facilities receiving Ukrainian children are operated by the Russian government.
According to the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation, citing HRL, some children were placed at facilities under the Russian Presidential Administration. For instance, the “Young Patriot” center at the Snegiri complex near Moscow reportedly subjects children to systematic re-education.
Researchers documented cases in which children were transported on aircraft owned by the Presidential Administration to participate in military programs. At dozens of facilities, children as young as eight were trained in firearms, grenade throwing, tactical medicine, and drone operation. In addition, most of these locations host “cultural and patriotic” activities promoting Russian ideology and deliberately severing children’s ties to Ukrainian identity. Analysts warn that the actual number of such sites may be even higher, and the fate of many children remains unknown.
“HRL can conclude that Russia is operating a potentially unprecedented system of large-scale re-education, military training, and dormitory facilities capable of holding tens of thousands of children from Ukraine for long periods of time. While this study does not answer the question of how many children from Ukraine are currently in Russia’s custody, it does reveal the logistical and operational capacity committed to Russifying children taken from their home communities in Ukraine. This is the first detailed effort to study the number, types, and roles of locations utilized by Russia’s federal government, particularly regarding re-education and militarization, in efforts to Russify Ukraine’s children,” the report states.
On July 25, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Dariya Zarivna, reported that within the framework of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back UA, 1,458 children have already been returned, but more than 1.6 million Ukrainian children remain under the control of the Russian state.
