The Pentagon confirms that Ukrainians are being deported "against their will" to Russia

The Pentagon has monitored indications that Ukrainians, trapped by the Russian invasion of their country, are being forced to evacuate their homes and forcibly sent to Russia, according to US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby.

Kirby said he did not have specific numbers, adding, "But we have indications that there are Ukrainians who are being sent against their will to Russia."

The spokesman was asked during a press conference about the Ukrainian government's assurances that 1.2 million people had been deported to Russia and placed in camps.

"I don't know how many camps there are or what they look like," Kirby replied, repeating again that "we have information about Ukrainians being sent against their will to Russia."

He considered Russia's behavior "unacceptable" and "not the behavior of a responsible power," saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin "simply does not accept or respect Ukraine's sovereignty."

"More than 1.19 million citizens, including more than 200,000 children, have been deported to the Russian Federation," according to Lyudmila Denisova, a Ukrainian government official, according to the official Spravdi contact center.

John Kirby declined to describe these deportations as ethnic cleansing, but emphasized "Russian brutality" in the conflict.

"For 75 days (Russia) has brutalized Ukraine and the Ukrainian people... and every time you think they can't go any lower, they prove you wrong," the Pentagon spokesman added.

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