Belarus sends children from occupied Ukraine for training with Belarusian army

Belarus state television says that Belarusian authorities sent a recently arrived group of Ukrainian children from occupied Ukraine to train with the Belarusian military to learn how to evacuate in the event of a fire

TALLINN, Estonia -- TALLINN, Estonia (AP) —

Belarus state television reported Wednesday that authorities sent a recently arrived group of Ukrainian children from occupied Ukraine to train with the Belarusian military to learn how to evacuate in the event of a fire.

Ukraine and the Belarusian opposition allege that Russian ally Belarus is engaging in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus on a mass scale, which critics say is a campaign to indoctrinate the children as pro-Russian.

Wednesday’s report referred to 35 children from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Antratsyt in eastern Ukraine that Belarusian authorities said were sent to the eastern Belarusian city of Mogilev.

The Belarus1 state television channel said the children are being housed in a sanatorium and are being cared for by employees from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The military is “teaching the children how to behave in extreme situations,” the state television channel said.