US: Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians forced to Russia

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States says it has evidence that “hundreds of thousands” of Ukrainian citizens have been interrogated, detained and forcibly deported to Russia. Russia immediately dismissed the claim as “fantasy,” calling it the latest invention in a Western disinformation campaign. The charge was made Wednesday at a Security Council session called by the United States and Albania to discuss Russia’s so-called “filtration operations.” That involves Ukrainians voluntarily fleeing the war in their homeland and those being forced to go to Russia passing through “filtration points” where treatment allegedly ranges from interrogations and strip searches to being yanked aside, tortured and sent to a  Russian detention center.