U.S.-backed report says Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children for 're-education'

FILE PHOTO: A pedestrian walks near a board, which displays the symbol "Z" in support of the Russian armed forces involved in the country's military campaign in Ukraine, in the settlement of Chernomorskoye, Crimea, February 11, 2023. A sign on the board reads: "We don't abandon our people". REUTERS/Alexey Pavlishak

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children - likely many more - in sites in Russian-held Crimea and Russia whose primary purpose appears to be political re-education, according to a U.S.-backed report published on Tuesday.

The report said Yale University researchers had identified at least 43 camps and other facilities where Ukrainian children have been held that were part of a "large-scale systematic network" operated by Moscow since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.