(MENAFN- UkrinForm) According to Ukrinform, the Center for Strategic Communications reported this on Facebook.

"My organization documented 165 re-education camps... These camps exist on the occupied territories, in Russia, in Belarus and in North Korea," said Kateryna Rashevska, an expert at the Regional Center for Human Rights.

At a U.S. Senate hearing on Russia's abduction of Ukrainian childre, the expert presented photos of 12-year-old Mykhailo from the temporarily occupied Donetsk region and 16-year-old Liza from occupied Simferopol. According to the human rights advocate, Russia sent these children to the Songdowon camp in North Korea, 9,000 kilometers from their home.

"In this camp, children were taught to destroy Japanese militaries and met Korean veterans who, in 1968, attacked the US ship Pueblo, killing and wounding nine American soldiers," she noted.

Rashevska emphasized that Russia refers to the illegal removal of Ukrainian children as evacuation. However, international humanitarian law strictly regulates such actions, requiring Russia to take all measures to reunite families, provide lists of evacuated children to the International Committee of the Red Cross, and regularly verify whether their continued placement is necessary. Russia has failed to meet any of these obligations, the human rights advocate stressed.

Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, in turn, stated that around 1.6 million Ukrainian children are currently under Russian control, either in occupied Ukrainian territories or inside Russia.

According to her, Russia is reprogramming Ukrainian children in occupied schools, children's camps, social institutions, and even in families. At the same time, Russia blocks all escape routes: it prevents humanitarian evacuation, shells "green corridors," cuts communication lines, and imposes total information isolation, the diplomat added.

Stefanishyna emphasized that there are currently more than 210 known locations where Ukrainian children are subjected to ideological indoctrination.

Read also: Return of Ukrainian children key element of peace process – Betza

As reported by Ukrinform, Russian occupiers plan to transfer 400 Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia region to Yaroslavl region under the guise of recreation.

First photo: bring kids back

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