The thousands of Ukrainian children kidnapped by Moscow’s forces during the war have been scattered to more than 200 facilities across Russia to undergo “re-education” and military training, according to a new study published Tuesday.
The Yale School of Public Health Humanitarian Research Lab, which has been tracking the kidnapping of Ukrainian children, identified 210 different locations where the kids have been taken to and taught all about Russian patriotism.
The group’s latest report also echoed allegations that older children are forced to receive military training at 40 different academies or army bases, including “drone control and tactics training.”
With an estimated 35,000 children taken from Ukraine, Russia is “operating a potentially unprecedented system of large-scale reeducation, military training, and dormitory facilities capable of holding tens of thousands of children from Ukraine for long periods of time,” the report warned.
The study, which was launched at the behest of Kyiv, was put together using open-source intelligence, news reports, Russian government documents and satellite imagery, according to Yale.
While the researchers could not verify if any of the children who received military training have been deployed to fight for Russia, Kyiv officials have said that several young soldiers killed on the invading side have already been revealed to be Ukrainians.
“This report demands action,” Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s right-hand man, said in a statement.
“Children are always the most vulnerable victims of armed conflict. Not only have these children undergone trauma and displacement, they have also suffered systemic deportation, illegal adoption, and forced assimilation,” he added.
“It’s now clear Russia plans to use Ukraine’s own children as a ‘weapon’ against us and Europe more broadly.”
Yermak had previously accused Russia of brainwashing Ukrainian teens to beef up Moscow’s military numbers in the face of hundreds of deaths a week along the frontlines.
He also claimed that the sinister tactic allowed Russia to inflict psychological harm on Ukraine’s army, forcing the defending soldiers to fight their own children.
The Yale institution has repeatedly highlighted Moscow’s indoctrination process on Kyiv’s youth, which includes raising the children to speak Russian and not their native Ukrainian.
The mass kidnappings are among the charges that led the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Putin back in 2023.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied the charges and slammed the allegations as a ploy for Ukraine to gain sympathy among Europeans.
Zelensky has said that he plans to hold a conference regarding the kidnapped children during the UN General Assembly meeting later this month.