Russian troops forcibly deport Ukrainians deep into the occupied territories or into Russia. The estimated number of deportees is almost 40,000.
This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk.
Russia uses a similar scheme in the temporarily occupied part of the Kyiv region - from there it is trying to forcibly deport people to Belarus.
"The occupier cynically kidnaps thousands of people from combat zones or temporarily occupied territories, takes them away in an unknown direction through quasi-humanitarian corridors, which they create without the agreeing with Ukraine. At the same time, they block the evacuation of civilians organized by the Ukrainian Government." - is said on the website of the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine.
According to Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine is constantly and strongly signaling to the international community and institutions that these Russian "corridors" are illegal and are not agreed with Ukraine. Furthermore, on the other side - both near Donetsk and Luhansk - forced migrants to go through special filtration camps, which violates the Geneva Convention."
Vereshchuk criticized the idea of the International Committee of the Red Cross to open an office in Rostov-on-Don to work with Ukrainians forcibly deported to Russia.
"We demand that they [International Committee of the Red Cross - ed] help to return our citizens. We hope that the Red Cross will be able to compile a list of deported people," Iryna Vereshchuk said.
She emphasized that Ukraine, despite the "powerlessness of international institutions such as the ICRC, the UN," will continue to fight for its citizens to bring them home.
Earlier Vereshchuk reported that the Russian occupiers are going to deport ethnic Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Turks-Meskhetians from Kherson to temporarily occupied Crimea.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, Ukrainians deported to Russia are being offered employment on Sakhalin.