MOSCOW – Russia’s foreign ministry condemned a recent Yale School of Public Health report accusing Moscow of forcibly deporting and re-educating Ukrainian children, dismissing the findings as anti-scientific propaganda filled with fabrications. The report claimed over 210 locations were used for military training, drone manufacturing, and other coercive re-education activities as part of a large-scale deportation effort.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the report’s data collection and disputed the June estimate that around 35,000 children had been forcibly displaced. “These are fake fabrications,” she said, lamenting Yale’s failure to verify the claims. Zakharova accused the report of aligning with Western propaganda aimed at justifying the seizure of Russian assets.
Ukraine has stated that more than 19,500 children were deported illegally to Russia and Belarus, actions it says violate the Geneva Conventions. Zakharova noted that the only official list of deported children Russia received contained 339 names, handed over during June 2025 negotiations in Istanbul. The Kremlin continues to reject allegations of wrongdoing in the deportations.