U.S. Department of State: Russia uses 43 camps to relocate thousands of Ukrainian children

A relevant statement was made by Ned Price, Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, referring to the Conflict Observatory report, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

“A report released today details Russia’s systematic government‑wide efforts to permanently relocate thousands of Ukraine’s children to areas under Russian Government control via a network of 43 camps and other facilities,” the representative of the U.S. Department of State said.

In many cases, Russia purported to temporarily evacuate children in Ukraine under the guise of a free summer camp, only to later refuse to return the children and to cut off all contact with their families.

“Such actions obviously will have serious long-term implications on these children’s development,” Price noted.

The Department emphasized that the illegal transfer and deportation of protected persons is a serious violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and a war crime.

In this regard, the United States called on Russia to immediately stop the forced relocations and return the children to their families and legal guardians.

As reported, the Conflict Observatory program operates under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State and is implemented, in particular, by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab. The program captures, analyzes, and makes widely available evidence of Russia-perpetrated war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine.