Russians deport children en masse before Ukrainian counteroffensive - Save Ukraine

Before the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Ukrainian children are being taken en masse from settlements adjacent to the demarcation line to the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea and to Russia.

Executive Director of Save Ukraine, Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights (2014-2021) Mykola Kuleba said this after a press conference at the Media Center Ukraine in a comment to an Ukrinform correspondent.

According to him, a few days ago it was reported that 660 Ukrainian children were taken from the temporarily occupied Berdiansk, having been gathered from nearby settlements.

"At the moment, we do not know the locations where these children are, but we know that in the face of the threat of a counteroffensive by the Ukrainian armed forces, so-called evacuations are constantly taking place in the territories close to the demarcation line, and for us these are deportations. When children are taken, put on buses and transported to an unknown destination," he said.

"As of five days ago, 660 children were taken out of Berdiansk, and now we can talk about thousands of children who are being taken to the enemy's territory again. We do not know who these children are, what families they come from, or whether they have families at all," Kuleba added.

As reported, on May 8, the head of the Joint Coordination Press Center of the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk, said on the air of the national marathon "United News" that the enemy was taking residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to Berdiansk in order to create the illusion of caring for civilians and to protect their units deployed on new frontiers.

According to the so-called governor of the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region, Balytskyi, as of the evening of May 7, 1679 people, including 660 children, were moved to Berdiansk. They are placed in "squeezed" recreation facilities in Berdiansk. Prymorsk and Kyrylivka are also expected to receive the displaced people. However, there is information that further evacuation will be to the Rostov region of the Russian Federation or even further.