The Kremlin has forcibly transported 20,000 to 35,000 Ukrainian children to mainland Russia or the occupied territory of Crimea since the start of its war in February 2022, British military officials said in their latest assessment of the battlefield.

“Some are then reportedly being forced to take a direct part in the conflict against their fellow Ukrainians,” U.K. officials posted Wednesday on X.

At least 6,000 children who were in Ukraine’s Donbas region at the start of the war have been moved to a network of re-education camps inside Russia. They are reportedly sent on to military training depots when they reach their late teens, the British officials said.

Moscow’s senior leadership almost certainly views abducted Ukrainian children as a potential source of personnel for the Russian military. Kremlin officials “highly likely” perceive that their deaths in combat would entail minimal, if any, objections or protests among the Russian public.

The vast majority of Russians has limited, if any, awareness of the abductions, U.K. officials said.

The abduction and forced conscription of Ukrainian children into the Russian military fit into Moscow’s longstanding Russification policy in illegally occupied Ukrainian territories. The ultimate goal is the extermination of Ukrainian culture, identity and statehood, the U.K. officials said.

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.