High school graduates are being selected in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia and sent to military educational institutions in the territory of the aggressor country.
How Russia prepares soldiers from Ukrainian children in the occupied territories
According to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, the aggressor country violats of the provisions of the Geneva Convention by making soldiers for its army from Ukrainian students.
The Ombudsman emphasised that this proves the intentions of the Russians to transform Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) into future soldiers of their own criminal army.
After all, for 10 years, the Russians in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine have been re-educating our children, involving them in the Yunarmiya movement and cadet schools, Lubinets stressed.
He noted that along with that, Kremlin propaganda narratives are aggressively imposed on Ukrainian children in order to change their self-identification.
Lubinets clarified that these actions are a violation of the norms of international humanitarian law, and in particular, the Geneva Convention on the Protection of the Civilian Population in Time of War.
Within the framework of this topic, I will also remind that residents of TOT are subjected to forced passporting and mobilisation. The ombudsman notes that 18-year-old boys who have just graduated from high school can actually join the ranks of the Russian army.
He called on the international community to pay attention to the violation of human rights by the terrorist country and to condemn these actions of the occupiers.
What is known about Russia's abduction of children from 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 affected by 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.
