Russia Using Kidnapped Ukrainian Children As Soldiers: Top Zelensky Aide
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Ukrainian forces were now encountering these young men on the frontlines, according to a report in The New York Post.
Many were taken as minors and subjected to years of ideological indoctrination and military training in occupied territories, Mr Yermak said.
One such case is that of 19-year-old Vlad Rudenko, who shared his ordeal with The Times of London. He recalled being subjected to daily routines that included singing the Russian national anthem, undergoing intense physical drills such as jumping, squatting, running and crawling, along with firearms training.
He explained that teenagers were subjected to different levels of training depending on their age. 'The 16- and 17-year-olds were given dummy rifles and the older ones used live ammunition,' he said.
Rudenko was reportedly just 16 when Russian forces picked him at gunpoint during their occupation of Kherson in October 2022. He was taken to Crimea, where he spent three years in a re-education facility. Eventually, with help from his mother, he escaped and made his way back across the frontlines.
Mr Yermak condemned the actions as part of a broader campaign by Moscow, calling it the work of a 'terroristic regime.' According to him, the scheme serves a dual purpose: to replenish Russia's dwindling military ranks and to psychologically devastate Ukrainian troops by forcing them to fight against their own kin.
'The Russians want to destroy the new generation of the Ukrainians, and they are building new soldiers against the country where they were born. It is terrible,' Mr Yermak said. 'Putin's goal is [that] he doesn't want Ukraine to exist.'
The scale of the operation has drawn international scrutiny. The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, which has partnered with Kyiv to trace missing Ukrainian children, has documented dozens of Russian-run indoctrination camps, reported The New York Post.
In these camps, children are immersed in Russian culture, forbidden from speaking Ukrainian, and shaped into what the Kremlin calls 'ideal citizens.' Some have been paraded on Russian state television, including a Mariupol boy reportedly adopted by Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Putin in 2023, citing child abductions as a central charge. The Kremlin has denied wrongdoing, but human rights groups continue to raise alarm over the long-term consequences of such forced conscription.
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