Russia planning to intensify deportation of Ukrainian children this summer - ISW

That's according to the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank, Ukrinform reports.

According to the report, the so-called Luhansk People's Republic (LNR) Head Leonid Pasechnik announced on May 27 that Russian federal subjects (regions that are constituent entities of the Russian Federation) will "host" over 12,000 children from occupied Luhansk region over the course of 2024 and that the Russian "Useful Vacations" program will sponsor 40,000 children from occupied Ukraine to "visit" Russia for summer camps and educational activities.

Pasechnik also reported that summer camps for children in occupied Crimea and within Russia are preparing to "host" over 600 children from occupied Ukraine throughout the summer, including the "Okean" summer camp in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai (which is closer to Alaska than it is to Ukraine).

The Kherson region's occupation Ministry of Labor also announced that an unspecified number of children from occupied Kherson region will travel to the "Okean" camp for an "educational, sport, and cultural program."

Kherson region occupation senator Andrey Alekseenko reported on May 27 that 575 children from occupied Kherson region will attend three-week summer camps in occupied Crimea and in Russia's Adygea Republic on Russian federal subject funds.

The "LNR's Ministry of Education and Science" reported that an unspecified number of adolescents from occupied Luhansk region will attend a military-patriotic sports camp at the "Avangard" camp in Russia's Volgograd region and train in military engineering, tactics, fires, parachuting, communications, national security fundamentals, drone operation, and tactical medicine

"Despite Russian efforts to frame summer camps for Ukrainian children as temporary recreational and educational affairs, they are a fundamental component of Russia's campaign to deport Ukrainians, including children, to Russia. The forcible transfer of children from one group to another is a recognized act constituting genocide, and Russia's multifaceted schemes deporting Ukrainian children to Russia may therefore be classed as genocidal acts," ISW analysts said.

According to the think tank, Ukrainian children who have been deported to Russia for such "vacations" or "summer camps" face Russification programs premised on isolating them from their Ukrainian families, language, culture, and history.

"Russian authorities will likely escalate deportation efforts throughout the summer under the guise of summer vacations, but these programs represent genocidal acts against the Ukrainian people despite Russian efforts to cloak them as temporary and positive educational opportunities," ISW analysts said.