Larisa Kozovaya12:01, 04.12.25

According to Rashevskaya, 165 re-education camps have been documented where Ukrainian children are militarized and Russified.

Russians are forcibly sending Ukrainian children from occupied territories to a camp in North Korea . At least two such children are currently known to have been taken 9,000 km from their homes, where they were subjected to militarized training and propaganda. Ekaterina Rashevskaya, an expert with the regional human rights center, reported this during a US Senate hearing .

“My organization has documented 165 re-education camps where Ukrainian children are militarized and Russified. These camps exist in the occupied territories of Russia, Belarus, and North Korea,” she stated.

Rashevskaya showed a photo, one of which, she said, showed 12-year-old Mikhail from the occupied Donetsk region, and the other a 16-year-old girl from occupied Simferopol. They were sent to the Songdowon camp in North Korea, which is 9,000 km from the children’s home.

At this camp, they were taught to kill Japanese soldiers and introduced to Korean veterans who, in 1968, attacked the American ship Pueblo, killing and wounding nine Americans.

“Russification and militarization cause severe trauma and violate the dignity of children. At 17, young men receive draft notices for the Russian army. The ultimate goal is clear: to force Ukrainians to kill each other,” Rashevskaya stated.

In September 2025, the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights recognized these actions as forced cultural assimilation. Children who resist Russification are labeled terrorists and extremists and sent to psychiatric institutions for forced treatment, Rashevskaya noted.

She added that there can be no amnesty for war criminals; Russia must immediately and unconditionally return all abducted Ukrainian children.

“We cannot recognize the occupied territories as Russian, either de jure or de facto, because this would undermine the international legal order, peace, and security, making us complicit in these crimes,” the expert emphasized.

(c)UNIAN 2025