Photo/Illutration A person in the settlement of Chernomorskoye, Crimea, on Feb. 11 walks near a board displaying the symbol “Z” in support of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. The sign on the board reads: “We don't abandon our people.” (Reuters file photo)

A mother’s arms cradle her sleeping infant in an underground bunker. An 11-year-old boy traveled 1,000 kilometers alone.

Including these two, Ukrainian children have been living in horrendous circumstances since Russia invaded their country, and I have come across many reports of the dire predicament they are in.

However, the latest report I read left me speechless. It was about Russia detaining thousands of Ukrainian children for “re-education.”

Compiled by Yale University in collaboration with the U.S. State Department, the report, which is based on satellite imagery, testimonies and other information, says at least 6,000 children have been detained at 43 facilities in Russia, as well as on the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula, since February 2022.

The children are said to range in age from 4 months to 17 years old, and some have ended up in the Russian Far East.

What is most despicable is how the Russian government rounds them up.

In many cases, low-income parents are told their children are being taken to an all-expenses-paid “fun summer camp.” Once their children are gone, however, all contact is severed.

And even if parents manage to find their children’s whereabouts and try to bring them home, the only way to do so is to personally travel to the facilities and pick up their children--a virtual impossibility with the war going on.

Detained children are forced to attend classes and lectures by retired Russian soldiers, the purpose being to make them “pro-Russia.” Some facilities also give military training.

One youth was denied his request to go home because he was deemed “too pro-Ukraine.”

The report says the Russian government is deeply involved in operating a systematic program that potentially constitutes a war crime, but the Kremlin’s rebuttal is that the program is designed for the benefit of “orphans.”

In every war, it is children who invariably suffer. Their young and flexible bodies and minds are force-fed, so to speak, nationalism and religious dogma.

I once met a child soldier who was sent to a battleground in Southeast Asia.

Trapped in political disputes and detained far away from their parents and hometowns, the young Ukrainian victims of Russia’s program have no way of going back, and I am outraged that such a tragedy still exists in this day and age.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 17

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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