The United States on Thursday accused Russia of forcibly relocating tens of thousands of Ukrainians to its territories, who often stand out for their resistance to the invasion.
They support the claims of the Ukrainian government, which estimates that nearly 1.2 million people have been deported to Russia or to Russian-controlled territory and have denounced so-called “sorting camps” in which Moscow is interrogating detainees. >
Michael Carpenter, US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the testimonies testify to “brutal interrogations” in the camps.
“Forced displacement is happening right now, as we speak, and these actions are tantamount to war crimes,” Carpenter told the Vienna-based organization. “We must not allow this evil to continue,” he said.
“The United States estimates that Russian forces have relocated at least several thousand Ukrainians to these 'sorting camps' and evacuated at least tens of thousands more to Russia or Russian-controlled territory, sometimes without informing them of the final “Carpenter said thousands had moved away from Mariupol alone, the strategic city that has been reduced to rubble in a scorched earth campaign by Russia. p>
Citing a survivor, Carpenter said “everyone was afraid to move to Donetsk,” the eastern part of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
, a favorite of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is being transferred to Donetsk “for further investigation or assassination,” the survivor said. He did not give numbers, although he did not give numbers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in early April, six weeks after the start of the Russian invasion, that thousands of Ukrainians were sent to Russian territory.
But that number has since risen to more than 1.19 million, including at least 200,000 children, Ukrainian ombudsman Lyutmila Denisova said recently./p >
