1 of 2 | At least two Ukrainian children abducted by Russian forces are being held in North Korea, a rights expert said Wednesday. In this photo, refugee children from Ukraine are seen at a makeshift camp near the U.S.-Mexico border in April 2022. File Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo
At least two Ukrainian children abducted by Russian forces are being held in North Korea, a human rights expert told a U.S. Senate subcommittee, highlighting an expanding dimension of Moscow’s systematic deportation campaign as its military ties with Pyongyang deepen.
Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert at Ukraine’s Regional Center for Human Rights, made the claim Wednesday at a hearing on Ukrainian child abductions convened by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations.
Rashevska testified that 12-year-old Misha from occupied Donetsk and 16-year-old Liza from occupied Simferopol were sent to the Songdowon camp in North Korea, located some 5,500 miles from their homes, where they were exposed to militarized propaganda.
“Children there were taught to ‘destroy Japanese militarists’ and met Korean veterans who, in 1968, attacked the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, killing and wounding nine American soldiers,” Rashevska said.
The revelation underscores deepening military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The two signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in June of last year, which includes a defense clause that calls for mutual military assistance in the event either country is attacked.
North Korea has provided significant support for Russia’s war effort, sending thousands of shipping containers of munitions and deploying 15,000 troops to help Russian forces in the Kursk region, according to Seoul’s National Intelligence Service. The spy agency said in September that around 2,000 of the dispatched soldiers have been killed.
In exchange, experts assess that Russia is transferring advanced military technology to Pyongyang, including assistance with space vehicles, reconnaissance satellites and air defense systems.
The Regional Center for Human Rights has documented 165 re-education camps where Ukrainian children undergo militarization and forced cultural assimilation, located across occupied Ukrainian territories, Russia, Belarus and North Korea.
“At 17, boys receive draft notices into the Russian army,” Rashevska told senators. “The ultimate aim is clear: to make Ukrainians kill each other.”
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Bring Kids Back initiative, nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russia or Russia-controlled territories since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Just 1,876 have been returned so far, according to the database.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in March 2023 against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in connection with the abductions.
On Wednesday, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding that Russia “ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported.” The United States joined 90 other countries in passing the resolution.
