Russia’s mass kidnappings of Ukrainians are a page out of a wartime playbook – and evidence of genocide

A woman runs from a house on fire after shelling in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine in June 2022. AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov

Following months of speculation, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed on July 13, 2022, that Russia had forcibly relocated between 900,000 to 1.6 million Ukrainians into Russia.

Blinken cited various sources, including eyewitness accounts and the Russian government, to confirm that Russia is removing Ukrainians from their country and making them pass through filtration camps, where some are detained and even disappear.