Russia deports more than 1 million Ukrainians including nearly 200,000 children: Report

Since the Russian aggression in Ukraine started in late February, around 1.1 million Ukrainian people have been deported to Russia, which includes nearly 200,000 children from the Russian occupied Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), as the Russian Federation's Defence Ministry suggests. As per the reports of Interfax, the head of the Russian Federation's National Defence Control Center Mikhail Mizintsev said that since the start of the special military operation, 1,092,137 people, including 196,356 children from the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics have been evacuated to the Russian territory.

Mizintsev also stated that over the past 24 hours, without the participation of Ukrainian authorities, they have evacuated 11,550 people, including 1,847 children to Russian Federation territory. He suggests that over the past day, they have received 103 requests for evacuation to the territory of Russia and in total, the database contains 2,754,241 such appeals from 2,133 settlements of Ukraine.

Russia claims the people were evacuated at their own request

Russia claims the people were evacuated at their own request, but Ukraine claims Moscow has deported hundreds of people to Russia without their consent since the conflict began. Center for Combating Disinformation at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Russia has stated that the Russians exploited Ukrainian youngsters deported from Russia's temporarily seized territory in Ukraine for propaganda purposes, according to Pravda. It was also announced that orphans from Mariupol were taken to a hospital in Donetsk controlled by Russian invading forces.

Just last week Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that almost a million refugees have already come to Russia from Ukraine and the Donbas region. At the meeting of the board of Attorney General, Putin also said that those who have come to Russia from Ukraine should be given special care. Ukraine has also blamed the Russian Federation for illegally kidnapping Ukrainian people for securing more funds.

Russia-Ukraine war

President Putin signed a decree on February 21 recognizing the DNR and LNR's independence and the initiation of a special military operation in Ukraine was announced by Putin on February 24. As a result, a slew of countries have slapped Russia with harsh sanctions. Ukraine has received arms and equipment from a number of countries.

Image: AP