Lubinec described the three stages of the enemy’s Russification of Ukrainian children

Russia is implementing a systematic policy targeting Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories. This policy involves deportation, the eradication of Ukrainian identity, and the recruitment of minors into military training and the Russian Armed Forces.

This was stated by Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights, during the presentation of the third special report on violations of the rights of Ukrainian children in the occupied territories.

 According to him, the Russian policy consists of three consecutive stages.

The first is the deportation and forced displacement of children. Russian authorities use claims of evacuation, health treatment, and rescue of minors as a pretext for removing them from Ukraine. Some of the children are placed with Russian families and in specialized institutions.

The second stage is Russification and the creation of an environment of total coercion. In the occupied territories, children are forced to endure a Russian-language education, propaganda, and a distorted interpretation of history. Parents are persecuted for continuing to send their children to Ukrainian schools, and minors are persecuted for showing disloyalty to the occupying authorities.

The third stage is militarization. Children are recruited into paramilitary organizations, trained in the use of weapons, and prepared for service in the Russian army.

Lubinec reported that Ukraine has already documented cases in which citizens who were minors at the time of the occupation of their communities later found themselves serving in the Russian army and were taken prisoner by Ukraine.

In particular, the ombudsman spoke about a native of Donetsk who was 16 years old at the time of the occupation. According to him, the young man explained that he had no choice but to serve in the Russian forces, as refusal would have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence.

Separately, Lubinets called on international partners to intensify sanctions against those involved in the deportation, forced displacement, and militarization of Ukrainian children, as well as to support the recognition of Russia’s crimes against Ukrainian children as genocide.

Source: Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

Russia has begun sending Ukrainian children—whom it abducted during the full-scale war—to its army. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made this statement during a speech at a special panel on Ukraine as part of the 30th Ibero-American Summit. According to him, the occupiers may be training the abducted children to participate in the war against their own country.

Russia has announced preparations for a new phase of returning Ukrainian children to their families. In November, they plan to help nine children reunite with their loved ones in Ukraine with the participation of U.S. First Lady Melania Trump.

Another 14 children have been returned to territory controlled by Ukraine.

Ukraine has verified more than 20,000 cases of child deportation.