Ukrainians are being sent to Russia against their will, Pentagon says

Russian officials have denied there have been forcible transfers, which are against the Geneva Conventions, saying that Ukrainians immigrated voluntarily.

Photo: Hannah McKay/Reuters

The United States has seen indications that some Ukrainians are being moved to Russia against their will, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday, calling the actions “unconscionable.”

Ukraine’s ombudswoman for human rights Liudmyla Denisova said in mid-April that Russia had taken 134,000 people from Mariupol, and of those 33,000 of those were forcibly deported, Reuters reported but was unable to confirm.

Russian officials have denied there have been forcible transfers, which are against the Geneva Conventions, saying that Ukrainians immigrated voluntarily.

“It’s very hard even for us, given our connections with human rights workers in Russia, to get any clear, verifiable information that we are hearing about Ukrainians who are being deported,” Nadia Dobrianska of the Ukrainian human rights NGO ZMINA told the Jerusalem Post in late April. “The scale of mass deportations remains to be seen probably in the coming days.”

Dobrianska said that there were reports that Ukrainian children had been transferred to Russia for adoption. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said in late March that Russian forces had relocated 2,389 children from the Donbas region into Russia.

Source: Jerusalem Post