In January 2024, a UN committee expectedly calls on Russia to answer about the
children deported from Ukraine: about their number; about granting Russian
citizenship to them, in contradiction with international humanitarian law; about
guarantees for their return to Ukraine and the preservation of their identity,
citizenship, family ties; about the fate of those who were adopted. Russia, as
it is well known, denies its crimes against Ukrainian children, considering
deportation as “evacuation” from dangerous areas. The investigation includes the
forcible involvement of Ukrainian children in Russia and in the occupied
territories of Ukraine into the programs of “military-patriotic education” – in
schools, summer camps, temporary facilities for refugees. In the photos
published by the organizers of such events – all kinds of “patriotic centers” –
you can see children with military weapons who often look younger than even 12
years old.