Ukraine has identified 16,000 children deported to Russia

16,000 children deported to Russia have already been identified in Ukraine. In 2022, the occupiers sent at least 400 of them to Russian families.

Kateryna Rashevska, an expert of the Regional Center for Human Rights, said this at a briefing at the Media Center Ukraine — Ukrinform.

According to her, there are cases when the Russians changed the personal data of children, for example, when they were taken to so-called "re-education camps" in order not to obtain the consent of their parents.

"They actually added the childrenʼs age, then moved them to the territory of Crimea. The children were kept there, unable to return, because according to their documents, they were no longer a child, and their freedom of movement was illegally restricted by the Russian Federation," said Rashevska.

In particular, the occupiers deported to the Russian Federation very young children who, due to the injuries they received, are simply unable to remember their names and can be called anything. They are very difficult to find and identify.

• Because of the war, 11.5 million Ukrainians moved around the country or went abroad. Some of them were deported by the occupiers.