The new report from Saturday indicates that out of the 15,000 children that have received these medical examinations, 70 percent were told they are in need of “special medical care” and need to be relocated to Russia for treatment.
According to the Ukrainian Resistance Center, Russian officials hope that these forced deportation schemes lure children’s families to Russia to take their children back home after medical treatment. But Russian officials will prevent families to return home to Ukraine, forcing them to stay in Russia, the center said.
As of Saturday, the overall pace of the war has slowed due to ground conditions. Heavy rain has made the ground muddy. Temperatures across Ukraine are expected to drop this week, which will solidify the ground after days of below freezing temperatures.
According to ISW, it is not clear if “either side is actively planning or preparing to resume major offensive or counter-offensive operations at that time, but the meteorological factors that have been hindering such operations will begin lifting.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said during a security council meeting that Putin’s missile attacks against the Ukrainian power grid aim to freeze Ukraine “into submission.”
“Putin’s motive could not be more clear and more cold-blooded. He is clearly—clearly—weaponizing winter to inflict immense suffering on the Ukrainian people. He has decided that if he can’t seize Ukraine by force, he will try to freeze the country into submission,” she said.
Russia has been launching numerous strikes on energy facilities throughout Ukraine, causing severe power outages and blackouts across the country ahead of an expected harsh winter.
On Wednesday after rounds of Russian missile attacks, Ukraine’s President Zelensky took to Twitter to ask for an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting. Zelensky said, “Murder of civilians, ruining of civilian infrastructure are acts of terror. Ukraine keeps demanding a resolute response of international community to these crimes.”
Rajan Menon, director of grand strategy program at Defense Priorities, told Newsweek on Sunday, “The relentless Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure will impose additional costs on an already overburdened Ukrainian economy and make the coming winter the hardest one that Ukrainians have faced since the years of World War II. And those are precisely Russia’s goals.”
