Russia wants to kidnap tens of thousands of Ukrainian children from the temporarly occupied territories and take them to so-called "summer camps".
Children from the occupied territories of Ukraine will be forcibly detained in "summer camps" in Vladivostok and Crimea
Russian authorities are set to step up the abduction of Ukrainian children into their territory this summer, intensifying another component of the genocidal campaign in Ukraine.
The head of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), Leonid Pasichnyk, said that the regions of the Russian Federation will "accept" more than 12,000 children from the occupied Luhansk region during 2024.
At the same time, the Russian program "Useful Vacation" will finance a trip for 40,000 children from occupied Ukraine. Children will be forcibly taken to Russia to participate in summer camps and educational activities.
According to Pasichnyk, summer children's camps in occupied Crimea and Russian territory are preparing to "take in" more than 600 children from occupied Ukraine during the summer, including the Ocean summer camp in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, which is closer to Alaska than Ukraine.
The occupation Ministry of Labor of the Kherson region also announced that children from the occupied part of the region will go to the "Ocean" camp to participate in the "educational, sports and cultural program". Occupation senator Andriy Alekseenko reported that 575 children will attend three-week summer camps in occupied Crimea and the Russian republic of Adygea.
Ukrainian children will be sent to military-patriotic camps of Russia for forced Russification
The LPR Ministry of Education and Science also announced that an unspecified number of teenagers from the occupied Luhansk region will attend a military-patriotic sports camp at the Vanguard camp in Russia's Volgograd region.
There they will receive training in military engineering, tactics, firefighting, parachuting, communications, the basics of national security, drone operation and tactical medicine.
Despite Russia's efforts to present “summer camps” for Ukrainian children as temporary recreational and educational activities, they are a fundamental component of its campaign to deport Ukrainians.
Analysts emphasise that the forcible transfer of children from one group to another is a recognised act of genocide.
It is noted that Ukrainian children who were deported to Russia for such "vacations" or "summer camps" face Russification programs aimed at isolating them from their Ukrainian families, language, culture and history.
Russian authorities will likely increase deportations throughout the summer under the guise of summer vacation, but these programs are acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people, despite Russia's efforts to disguise them as temporary and positive educational opportunities.
What is known about Russia's abduction of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine
In 2023, the Online.UA team presented the documentary "Crippled Childhood", which reveals the truth about Russia's abduction of Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
The film contains real stories of children and their families who suffered from Russia's war against Ukraine, comments by leading scientists, psychologists, lawyers and experts on the protection of children's rights.
The heroes of the tape went through Russian captivity, torture, abduction to a health camp, some were separated from their parents during the so-called filtering measures.
