Russia Plans Deportation of 53,000 Ukrainian Children Under Guise of Summer Camps

Russia is set to ramp up its deportation of Ukrainian children from occupied territories under the guise of summer holidays, according to statements from Russian officials, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on April 29.

A Kremlin representative revealed that approximately 53,000 children from Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine are scheduled to “spend their summer holidays” at camps across both occupied Ukraine and within Russia.

Human rights observers and Ukrainian officials have long condemned such transfers as part of a broader campaign of forced deportation and indoctrination.

This new wave of child transfers coincides with Russia’s preparations for its annual Victory Day celebrations on May 9, a holiday it uses to glorify Soviet triumph in World War II.

These celebrations are increasingly used as tools of propaganda in the occupied territories, aimed at reshaping historical memory and tightening Moscow’s ideological grip over the local population.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin is taking further steps to integrate occupied Ukrainian regions into Russia’s political structure.

Moscow has begun re-drawing single-mandate electoral constituencies to reflect administrative control over Ukrainian land—another clear sign of its intent to formalize the illegal annexation of these territories.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy handed over a list of 400 children, who Russia abducted from temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

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