Zelenskyy Says Russia Trains 20,000 Abducted Ukrainian Children to Fight, Urges New Sanctions
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · May 31
Zelenskyy Says Russia Trains 20,000 Abducted Ukrainian Children to Fight, Urges New Sanctions
2 articles · Updated · CBS New York · May 31
Summary
At least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been documented as abducted by Russia, Zelenskyy told CBS, adding for the first time that Kyiv has evidence some are being trained to fight Ukrainians.
The allegation goes beyond earlier evidence of Russian "reeducation" camps and could amount to a war crime; Zelenskyy said the children are taught to hate Ukraine but did not detail the evidence publicly.
The ICC already issued a 2023 arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over the unlawful deportation of children, while the Kremlin has cast the transfers as a humanitarian effort for war orphans.
Zelenskyy also rejected any swap of children for captured soldiers as illegal, and pressed for tougher U.S. sanctions after a Yale report linked Gazprom and Rosneft to reeducating more than 2,000 children.
With Russia militarizing abducted youth, what does the future hold for these children and their Ukrainian identity?
Is the West's energy policy inadvertently funding the very war crimes it condemns in Ukraine?
How can international courts ensure justice when Russia is actively prosecuting the judges seeking to hold it accountable?
Abducted Ukrainian Children: Scale, Methods, International Arrest Warrants, and the Global Response to Russia’s War Crimes
Overview
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, thousands of Ukrainian children have reportedly been killed, injured, or forcibly transferred by Russian forces, actions widely condemned as war crimes and crimes against humanity. In response, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, highlighting the seriousness of these allegations. Russia claims the transfers were for the children's safety and is willing to return them under its own conditions. The international community remains deeply concerned, as these events have profound human consequences and challenge global efforts to ensure accountability and protect vulnerable children during conflict.