Forced Migration of Children; Moscow Claims 700,000 Ukrainian Children Are in Russia

The head of the International Committee of the Federation Council of Russia, the upper house of the country's parliament, stated that Russia has evacuated 'about 700,000 children' from the war zones in Ukraine and transferred them to Russian territory. Grigory Karasin said, 'In recent years, 700,000 children who have fled the bombing and shelling of war zones in Ukraine have sought refuge with us.' In July 2022, the United States estimated that the number of children illegally taken out by Russia was 260,000. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its western neighbor in February 2022. Moscow claims that its goal in bringing children from Ukraine to Russia is to 'protect orphans and abandoned children in conflict areas.' However, Ukraine asserts that the transfer of many of these children has been illegal. The United States has also stated that thousands of children have been forcibly separated from their homes. The majority of the displacement of people and children from Ukraine occurred in the first few months of the war and before the start of Ukraine's main counteroffensive operations to reclaim occupied territories in the east and south in late August.