Moscow's controversial scheme: Ukrainian youths coerced into soldiers

The Ukrainian government estimates that since the war's onset, about 20,000 children have been taken to Russia, according to CNN. Official figures also show more than 2,100 children are still missing. Among those transported was Bohdan Yermokhin, part of a group known as the "Mariupol 13". The teenager was flown to Moscow on a government aircraft and placed in a foster home before being sent to a patriotic camp near the capital, an attempt to change his nationality.

After receiving a Russian passport and attending a Russian school, the Ukrainian teenager was handed a military draft notice shortly before his 18th birthday in the autumn of 2023. "I was told that Ukraine is losing, that children there are being exploited as organ donors, and that I would immediately be sent to fight. I replied that if I were sent to war, at least I'd be fighting for my country, not theirs," Yermokhin shared with CNN. Bohdan has since returned to Ukraine.

Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets believes Putin's objective is to strip Ukrainians of their national identity, starting with education. "All schools are required to use new textbooks which convey the message that Ukraine and the Ukrainian nation have never existed and that Ukrainian children are, in fact, Russian," he explained to CNN.

As they approach adulthood, Ukrainian teenagers are enlisted in the military recruitment list. "This is not just theory. There are now instances of the forced mobilization of Ukrainians. All Ukrainian teenagers in Russia, as they turn 18, find themselves on the (recruitment) list for the Russian military," Lubinets stated.

Source: CNN