Ukraine condemns pro-Russian authorities over claim that children from flooded areas are being taken to camps.

A Ukrainian children’s rights group on Thursday condemned a claim by a Russian-installed official this week that children from flooded towns and villages were being taken to holiday camps deeper in Russian-occupied territory.

In the wake of the Kakhovka dam’s destruction on Tuesday, Vladimir Saldo, the occupation governor in the Kherson region, said in a Telegram post that it was “practically a requirement” that the children be taken to the camps.

His claim comes as Russia has been widely condemned over past months for the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to camps or institutions in Russia or Russian-controlled territory.

In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on charges of war crimes for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Maria Lvova-Belova, the country’s commission for children’s rights, saying that they bore responsibility for the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children since Russia’s invasion.

Russia has acknowledged taking Ukrainian children to Russia or deeper into Russian-held territory, but has maintained it did so for humanitarian purposes.

Mykola Kuleba, the founder of the Save the Children charity, which has worked to return Ukrainian children, said in a text in response to Mr. Saldo’s claim that “under the pretext of ‘rescue,’ they are separating children from their parents, manipulating human tragedy.”

Some children who were taken over the past year were not with their parents or guardians when they encountered pro-Russian forces, and have described a process of coercion and deception as they were taken to Russia or occupied parts of Ukraine.

In other cases, the children’s parents agreed to let them go to summer camps to Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, to escape the war, either under the assurance that they would return after a few weeks, or under pressure of officials and soldiers. In many cases, their children ended up being held for longer, and their parents had to undergo long, dangerous trips to get them back.

Mr. Kuleba said that children are the most vulnerable during a major catastrophe such as the flood caused by the explosion of the Kakhovka dam.

“It is extremely difficult to trace their fate in the flooded territory,” he said.

— Emma Bubola

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/06/08/world/russia-ukraine-news/ukraine-condemns-pro-russian-authorities-over-claim-that-children-from-flooded-areas-are-being-taken-to-camps