Belarus is accused of illegally transferring Ukrainian children from the occupied territories to train with its army.
Belarusian state television reported Wednesday that authorities sent a group of recently arrived Ukrainian children from occupied Ukrainian territories to train with the Belarusian army to learn how to evacuate in the event of a fire. .
Ukraine and the Belarusian opposition say Russia’s ally Belarus is illegally transferring Ukrainian children to Belarus on a large scale. Which, critics say, constitutes a campaign to indoctrinate children in favor of Russia.
The report, published on Wednesday, refers to some 35 children from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Antratsyt in eastern Ukraine.
They were reportedly sent to the city of Mogilev in eastern Belarus.
State television channel Belarus 1 said the children were being housed in a sanatorium and cared for by employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The military “teach children how to behave in extreme situations”reports the state television channel.
According to a recent study by Yale University, more than 2,400 Ukrainian children aged 6 to 17 were brought to Belarus from four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russian troops.
The Belarusian opposition has called on the International Criminal Court to bring Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and members of his government to justice for their involvement in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus.
State television footage broadcast on Wednesday showed the Ukrainian children wearing the Russian flag sewn onto their sleeves.
Ukrainian authorities said they were investigating the children’s deportation as possible genocide.