The Russian occupying authorities are taking Ukrainian teenagers to military camps in Russia to recruit them into their army, the National Resistance Centre has said.
In particular, from 1 to 18 August, military-patriotic training camps with the participation of Ukrainian teenagers are taking place in the Gvardeyets camp in Penza, Russia. The teenagers were brought from Ukraine's occupied territories, such as Mariupol, Kirovske, Yenakiyeve, Horlivka, Shakhtarsk, Makiyivka and Donetsk.
In the camps, the children are offered training, excursions to propaganda museums and concerts by Soviet-Russian pro-Kremlin singer Oleg Gazmanov.
"In this way, the enemy continues the policy of destroying an entire generation of Ukrainians, brainwashing children and trying to recruit them to the war against their homeland," the National Resistance Centre noted.
According to official reports, as of the beginning of August, Russia has deported or forcibly transferred more than 19,000 Ukrainian children. However, the real figures, according to the offices of the prosecutor-general and the ombudsman of Ukraine, are many times higher. Only 386 children have been returned to their parents and relatives.