Ukraine at UNSC claims 38,000 children among 2.5mn people 'forcibly deported' to Russia

In response to reports that Moscow is "using" filtration centers to detain & abuse Ukrainians amid the war, Ukraine informed the United Nations Security Council on September 7 that 2.5 million people have been forcibly deported from the nation, many of whom were being tortured and killed. Thousands of Ukrainian nationals are being forcibly deported to "isolated and depressed regions of Siberia and the far east," according to Khrystyna Hayovyshyn, deputy ambassador of Ukraine to the UN.

According to the ambassador, 38,000 children—many of whom had been separated from their parents—were among the 2.5 million people who had already been deported. The ambassador claimed that under the guise of looking for "dangerous" individuals, the Russian government terrorises those it deports, abducting those with connections to the Ukrainian government or media as well as those whose political opinions are deemed unacceptable. The remarks came as US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield called Russian "filtration activities" "horrifying."

Linda told reporters outside UNSC chamber, "A growing number of eyewitnesses and survivors of 'filtration' operations tell stories of threats, harassment, and incidents of torture by Russian security forces. They’ve had their biometric data captured, identification documents confiscated, and all means of communication cut off. They’ve been subject to invasive searches, interrogation under inhumane and demeaning circumstances. It really is horrifying."

People are fleeing Ukraine, more for fear of Ukraine: Russia

However, Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that entrants go through "registration" procedures rather than filtration. Nebenzia expressed regret that human rights organisations were making baseless claims against Russia.

"We have wasted time" debating this subject, he remarked. "People are fleeing Ukraine, more for fear of Ukraine," Nebenzia continued.

Meanwhile, according to the UN, credible allegations have surfaced that Russian forces have sent Ukrainian children to Russia for adoption as part of a larger-scale forced relocation and deportation programme.

Ukrainians has "chilling echoes from European history"

The repatriation of Ukrainians has "chilling echoes from European history," according to the UK's permanent representative to the UN. Dame Barbara Woodward, the British envoy to the UN Security Council, stated during a briefing on Ukraine that Ukrainians are reportedly subjected to interrogation, body searches, stripping, invasive data collecting, ill-treatment, and torture when passing through 'filtration.'

Woodward said, "We are deeply concerned by reporting by the UN, the OSCE and civil society organisations that Russia is systematically detaining, processing and deporting Ukrainian men, women and children, with chilling echoes from European history."

Those deemed most dangerous are apparently imprisoned indefinitely in detention centres, while others, including unaccompanied minors, are forcefully deported to Russia, ashe said, adding that the awful term "de-nazification" was a cover for erasing Ukraine from the map.

Image: AP