KYIV -- Ukrainian authorities have detained an unspecified number of Russian teachers who moved to Ukrainian towns and cities after Russia took control of them after launching its invasion in late February.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on September 12 that the teachers, who moved to Ukraine to teach a Russian curriculum at local Ukrainian schools "committed a crime."
"Of course, a court will decide on their punishment, but on the territory of our country there is still a big number of Russian citizens who came to temporarily occupied territories and they will surely face justice unless they leave our territory immediately," Vereshchuk said .
Vereshchuk added that the detained Russian teachers will not be included in prisoner-exchange lists as they are not combatants.
Ukrainian media reports said on September 10 that an unspecified number of Russian teachers were left behind as Russian troops and Russia-appointed officials fled several towns and villages in the Kharkiv region as Ukrainian armed forces recaptured territory during a lightning counteroffensive.
Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said earlier that the Russian teachers were detained in the town of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.
On September 13, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that there were Russian teachers in Ukraine's Kharkiv region.
Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov added that all Ukrainian teachers who collaborated with Russian-appointed authorities and chose to move to Russia from the region, had been given assistance to do so.