More than 2,400 children from Ukraineaged from 6 to 17 years, have been transferred to Belarus after the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory in February 2022, according to research by Yale University.

Ukraine’s attorney general said in May he was investigating Belarus’ role in the forced transfer of 19,000 children from Russian-held territory after the war began. Some experts and organizations estimate that the total number of children taken to Russia is much higher.

His findings Yale School of Public Health Human Research Laboratory, which is funded by the State Department, are the most extensive to date on the role Belarus played in the Russian relocation program for these children. Moscow insists it is providing humanitarian aid to those who wanted to leave Ukraine voluntarily and rejects accusations of war crimes.

The 39-page report states that children were taken from at least 17 cities in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. The Yale researchers note that this practice continues.

More than 2,000 children were taken to the juvenile center Dubravain the Minsk region of Belarus, between September 2022-May 2023. Another 392 children were sent to 12 other facilities.

“Russia’s systematic effort to round up, transport and re-educate Ukraine’s children was facilitated by Belarus. The federal government of Russia and the Belarusian regime cooperated to coordinate and finance the movement of children from occupied Ukraine, through Russia, to Belarus,” the report states.

The children sent to Belarus received military training and were “re-educated”. According to the Yale report, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko himself gave his approval for government agencies to transport children from Ukraine to Belarus.

It is unclear how many of the children recorded by the Yale researchers remain in Belarus today.