How Russia is re-educating Ukrainian children in the occupied territories

 

Russian aggression has led to the destruction of the education system, and schools in the occupied territories are being used to spread Russian ideology. According to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubynets, quoted by Radio Liberty, as of February this year, 600,000 children are in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, of which only seven percent are studying online in Ukrainian schools.

Children living under Russian occupation are facing repression for trying to continue their education in Ukrainian schools. According to Amnesty International, teachers, students, and parents who try to maintain education in Ukrainian have become "partisans who dig holes in their gardens to hide laptops and mobile phones or hide in attics and old sheds to catch mobile phone signals." An atmosphere of fear, repression and persecution reigns in educational institutions, which is extremely harmful to the development of each individual child. Attempts to intimidate and crush go hand in hand with Russification, which is embedded in all possible educational, school and extracurricular programs.

History in Russian schools has ceased to be a science, turning into a tool of manipulation that justifies the crimes of the regime and forms a distorted picture of the past and the present in children. Recent initiatives under the personal control of Vladimir Putin have shown a growing ideological influence on children in school programs, textbooks and extracurricular activities. In particular, changing history textbooks, introducing new courses and imposing militaristic literature are part of a campaign to militarize youth, aimed at creating obedient citizens who are ready to support the current government and participate in the Kremlin's aggressive wars.

In 2025, Putin personally took control of the editing of history textbooks, claiming that previous versions contained "Russophobia" and "distortion of facts". Under his leadership, textbooks are being changed to glorify imperial conquests, glorify the Soviet past, and justify Russia’s current aggression, including the war in Ukraine. The new textbooks, created with the participation of figures such as Vladimir Medinsky, a member of Putin’s “ideological clan,” are “non-Eurocentric,” which in practice means a shift away from scientific objectivity in favor of ideological propaganda. In the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the methods of indoctrinating children are being applied with particular rigor, as the Kremlin seeks not only to destroy Ukrainian identity, but also to replace it with an artificially created “Russian” consciousness. Schools in these territories are becoming places where education is used to justify the occupation and prepare young people for further participation in Russia’s aggressive policies.

 

Forcing educational institutions to transfer values approved by the Russian authorities began immediately after the establishment of Russian control over the occupied territories.

In 2022, the occupation administrations were engaged in the transition to Russian programs. The legislative framework for the “reintegration” of educational institutions in the temporarily occupied territories into Russia, as Russians and collaborators call this process, began to be formalized in late 2022 - early 2023. In February, State Duma deputies adopted a law on equalizing the structure of the education system in the temporarily occupied territories and in the internationally recognized territories of Russia. Before that, there was no recognition of educational levels for parts of the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Putin recognized as independent before the full invasion of Ukraine. The legislative activity of the occupiers in the fall-winter of 2023 also included secondary and higher education institutions.

The Russians planned to provide textbooks for the temporarily occupied territories, the same as those used in Russia, by 2023. In January 2023, deputies of the Russian State Duma voted only for the law on the stages of “integration” of educational institutions into the educational space of Russia. A “five-year plan” was set for the complete transition of educational institutions from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian curriculum by September 2022: five years were foreseen by the head of the Russian State Duma Committee on Education Olga Kozakova, and in November of the same year by the Minister of Education of Russia Sergei Kravtsov.

To address the staffing issue, Russia has exempted teachers working in the territories occupied by Russia from certification until September 1, 2024. They have also offered the opportunity for fourth-year students of pedagogical universities to work as teachers.

In January 2024, Russia’s Channel One broadcast a story stating that “new regions will be maximally integrated into the Russian education system within two years.” In a statement, Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov spoke about the renovation of schools across Russia. But it became clear from his report that the Russians have not completely changed the worldview of schoolchildren in the temporarily occupied territories.

“Working with high school students, because the Kiev regime has actually distorted the minds of children. Working with teachers, educators. And developing infrastructure. We also organized a large-scale event ‘University Changes’, when high school students come to our cities. They are, in fact, rediscovering Russia,” the Russian Education Minister said.

In 2024, Vladimir Nechayev, associate professor and rector of Sevastopol State University, published a text entitled “Features of the Reintegration of New Regions of the Russian Federation into the Subject Field of Russian Pedagogical Science and Practice of Education.” A table comparing the results of post-secondary exams in Russia in an average school and in schools in Sevastopol and Crimea shows the lagging behind of schools in the temporarily occupied territories in all subjects, even in regions that have been occupied for more than 10 years.

 

The Media Detector Research Center investigated approaches to implementing the ideological component in education and extracurricular activities of schools in the Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson regions.

In 2022, educational institutions in Russia are required to register and actively maintain a page on the VKontakte social network. Due to the functionality of the network, such pages are certified as official “state public”, and there are methodological recommendations for their maintenance. School pages provide information about events taking place in schools, and posts from the pages of Russian educational and youth organizations are disseminated.

Schools in the occupied territories also have the status of “state public”. By monitoring their pages, one can analyze the official directions of the occupiers’ work with schools, understand what programs they are trying to implement, and what they emphasize in school and extracurricular activities. Due to the bureaucratic nature of maintaining such pages, the information they provide about the life of schools under occupation is clearly limited, but it is sufficient to observe and assess the scope of propaganda directed at schoolchildren.

We decided not to focus on a quantitative review of all schools, but on an in-depth analysis of the content of separately selected examples (publications, photos, videos), revealing nuances, such as integration with Russian organizations (“Movement of the First”, “Eagles of Russia”) or propaganda activities (excursions, “conversations about what is important”).

Therefore, we selected the pages of six schools, two each from large settlements in the Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions — Mariupol, Berdyansk, Skadovsk and Genichesk — which are key centers of the occupation administration. We worked with the pages of the schools on the social network “VK” in the order of the numbering of educational institutions. In the Donetsk region, these were the pages on “VK” of schools No. 4 and No. 5 of the city of Mariupol. In Zaporizhia — schools No. 1 and No. 2 of the city of Berdyansk. And in Kherson — school No. 1 of the city of Skadovsk and school No. 1 of the city of Genichesk.

In this way, we covered typical contexts: urbanized areas with a high population concentration, where propaganda is most intense. In addition, schools with small numbers of students are often "model" (that is, more controlled by the occupation authorities). We did not aim to specifically select only "suspicious" schools, that is, to select data for conclusions. Therefore, we resorted to a "numbering order" approach (starting with #1-5) to avoid subjective bias (picking by choice).

The number of analyzed publications on the websites of the selected schools is 2,083.

The approach we have chosen is a stratified sample with elements of systematic sampling. The strata are different regions, which makes the sample representative of different occupation contexts.

The study does not claim to be a statistical generalization, but focuses on a qualitative description of propaganda mechanisms - we illustrate systemic problems with examples. We highlight the systemic practices of the occupation authorities, which most likely spread to other schools (after all, as the study will discuss later, schools are required to maintain "state public" "VK" accounts according to unique rules).

The pages of educational institutions from different parts of the temporarily occupied regions on social networks enable an assessment of how the plans of the occupation authorities to integrate young people from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine into the Russian space and spread the worldview instilled in them through the inclusion of schoolchildren in media initiatives are implemented and spread in the public space.

 

 

Education and extracurricular activities are a means of integrating Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories into the Russian space. This integration is ensured by the state apparatus, especially teachers, as well as the media, public and political organizations. In order to speed up the process, the Russian authorities have facilitated admission to Russian higher education and other educational institutions by digitizing the application procedure.

For example, in June 2025, schools in Mariupol distributed advertisements about the possibility of submitting documents to educational institutions both in the territories controlled by the Russian authorities and in Russia, through the Gosuslugi service, which this year became fully operational in the temporarily occupied territories. The message indicated that candidates can choose educational institutions based on the availability of dormitories and military departments.

For teachers implementing the Russian educational program, integration into the Russian space is carried out both through the centralized supply of educational and methodological materials and through the organization of cooperation with colleagues from Russia. In particular, through teacher trips to various forums and seminars.

As a rule, Russians choose places for such teacher trips that are attractive to tourists: Moscow, St. Petersburg, seaside locations.

Similar approaches are used by occupation administrations during propaganda “rallies” and “forums” to integrate schoolchildren into Russian space. As a rule, students must win a competition to travel to such events. For example, in May 2025, a message was posted on the VK page of school No. 1 in the city of Skadovsk that several students from the Skadovsk district had visited the All-Russian Center “Orlyonok”. Judging by open sources, it is located near the city of Tuapse on the Black Sea coast. In order to travel, students had to win the “Community of Eagles of Russia” competition. Such events are held annually.

For winning the competition to teach grandparents the basics of financial literacy, as announced on the website of school No. 4 in Mariupol, schoolchildren were given the opportunity to rest at the Artek children's camp in Crimea.

Competitions of schoolchildren and students with the KVK also allow for the development of ties with Russians. School No. 1 in Skadovsk reported on the trip of the local KVK team to the All-Russian competitions.

Thus, recreation, competitions and other supposedly “apolitical” activities are used to influence the life paths of young people and to affirm and legitimize Russian power in the occupied territories.

A role in the integration of young people from the temporarily occupied territories is played by Russian “educational” organizations such as the “Knowledge Society”, the “Heritage Society”, “Culture of Novorossiya” and the political party “United Russia”. The “Knowledge Society” has a logo that is a mixture of the Cyrillic and Latin letters “Z”, which has become one of the visual symbols of the all-out Russian military aggression against Ukraine.

The activities of the “youth-patriotic” organization “Heritage Society” are most often mentioned in schools in Mariupol through the presentation of books and puzzles to children.

The head of “Heritage” in Mariupol, Oksana Kravchuk, not only distributes books to schoolchildren in Mariupol, but also “volunteers” by delivering “humanitarian goods,” including clothes, to Russian soldiers – reports about this were published on the Telegram channel of the Mariupol occupation administration. In Skadovsk, the presidential foundation “Culture of Novorossiya” is developing the same “volunteer” activity. It also distributed books about the adventures of Kolya Arbuzov to students of school number 1. Judging by Russian propaganda websites, this book, with a circulation of 5,500 copies, was published with the help of Putin’s presidential fund for cultural initiatives. It tells about the beauty and attractions of the Kherson region.

 

The United Russia party is also involved in integrating residents of the temporarily occupied territories into Russian space. In particular, the website of school No. 4 in Mariupol reported in April that the party has a project that includes six competitions aimed at “educating children and young people in the spirit of traditional cultural and spiritual values” of Russia. For a regional victory, they give 20 tickets to a holiday in Kislovodsk, and for a victory at the all-Russian level, they reward trips to Crimea and the Artek camp.

“Correct” values are also discussed during film screenings. In school No. 4 in Mariupol, a special report was made about the holding of a “Day of Good Cinema”, where the 1961 Soviet horse film “Lyubushka” was shown to sixth-graders. Both the first, “apolitical” category of events and the second category include Russian youth organizations operating in the occupied territories. These include the “modern pioneers” – the “Movement of the Firsts” and the more militarized structure, the “Yunarmiya”. We should not forget the youngest, who are involved in the “Eagles of Russia”. This movement is aimed at younger students. While the KVK and other competitions are aimed at older ones. In this way, structures are created through which children should be subjected to the influence of the state ideological machinery and integrated into organizationally “correct” life from the very beginning of school education.

The views of the Russian authorities on history and culture are also permeated by the excursions that schoolchildren attend. During them, students try to create the impression that they are Russian. In particular, the VK page of school No. 4 in Mariupol published information about an excursion to the museum “Russia is my history”.

The pages of secondary schools in the temporarily occupied territories also demonstrate the political orientations imposed by the Russian educational program. This includes celebrations of Russian national holidays, such as “Russia Day”, events dedicated to the “unity of the multinational people of Russia”, etc. In addition, propaganda is woven into ordinary school events, graduation ceremonies, days of knowledge, teachers’ days, health days. At these events, the values approved by the Russian regime are not preached by teachers, but by invited guests or representatives of the occupation authorities.

In schools in the temporarily occupied territories, there are special classes dedicated to countering the “ideology of extremism and terrorism”. Judging by the post on the VK page of school No. 4 in Mariupol, special videos are shown to students there, and then there is a discussion about “how important it is to recognize destructive ideas and not succumb to provocations”. We observed similar classes on “countering terrorism” during our research in schools in Berdyansk, Skadovsk and Genichesk.

Also, schoolchildren in the temporarily occupied territories do not have the opportunity to avoid the Russian “Conversations on Important Matters”. In particular, in early April 2025, during such a conversation, the importance of the “Day of Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus” was discussed.  

 

“Such classes help schoolchildren to better understand historical and contemporary processes, and also instill respect for the traditions and culture of fraternal peoples,” the VK page of school No. 4 in Mariupol states.

Judging by such formulations, it is doubtful that during such “conversations on important matters,” which supposedly take place in the form of a “dialogue in which everyone could express themselves,” criticism of the expediency of fraternal unity with Russia by any people would be perceived as an equal position.

 

 

The Russians are “brainwashing” children in the temporarily occupied territories not only within the framework of the school and extracurricular education system. They have also been engaged in children’s recreation in sanatoriums. In Russia and in the regions temporarily occupied by it, 2025 has been declared the “Year of Children’s Recreation in the Education System”. Therefore, the indoctrination of Ukrainian schoolchildren is taking place not only through compulsory educational programs, but even in medical and health complexes. Let’s consider how this is happening using the example of a children’s sanatorium in Berdyansk.

The Berdyansk Children’s Sanatorium (“GBUZ DSS Berdyansk”) accepts children aged five to 17 with chronic non-specific diseases of the lungs, ENT organs and gastroenterological problems. Treatment lasts 21 days, and the sanatorium is open year-round. “Qualified educators” and medical workers provide a “favorable psychological climate in the sanatorium”.

Treatment of children living in the Zaporizhia region, as stated on the institution's website, is completely free. The patients of this medical institution are mainly children from this region. The head of the institution, a deputy of the Berdyansk City Council from the United Russia faction, Oksana Miroshnichenko, says that the institution's plans are "to have children come to the sanatorium not only from the Zaporizhia region, but also from all regions of our great homeland." By the way, according to local media reports, it was Miroshnichenko who provided shelter to the occupation troops in one of the branches of the specialized children's sanatorium "Berdyansk" - in the sanatorium "Kirilivka" in the village of Kirilivka, Zaporizhia.

A new "vast homeland" joins the work of the institution - thanks to the "brotherhood" with Russian regions and organizations. For example, the St. George the Victorious charity organization from Yekaterinburg and the Nizhny Turinsky municipal district, with the help of the United Russia party, helped equip the sanatorium's gym and donated welding equipment.

The free time of the boys and girls staying in the sanatorium is united with the free time of their peers in Russia, who fall under the care of the charitable organization of St. George the Victorious and the forms of free time approved by the Russian regime. According to the material of the propaganda publication "Izvestija", in order to "distract" children from the stress of hospital life, the "Donbass Child Protection Fund" opened a special children's playroom in the children's sanatorium in Berdjansk (more than 40 of them are planned to be opened in the temporarily occupied territories), where "educational work" will be carried out. As propagandists write, "motifs from Russian fairy tales and national achievements were used to decorate the interior of this space." Among other things, on the walls are pictures of the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, symbols of the Russian capital, an unobtrusive reminder of "national achievements."

The local propaganda television station “Za!TV” calls the indoctrination of minors who came for treatment “creative activities.” For example, “creative” activities include the promotion of the cult of the “Great Victory,” because “on the eve of the Great Victory celebration, children” made “Dove of Peace” and talked about the “heroism of the homeland.”

They also celebrate “Road Safety Day” with children or hold “One Day with the Police,” where police officers talk about the specifics of their work. They hold a theme “My Home is Russia,” during which students “creatively learn to love their homeland.”

They can attend a master class by Russian volunteers on organizing humanitarian gatherings. On the eve of “Russia Day,” representatives of “Putin’s Team” visited the sanatorium, handed out treats and tricolor ribbons to the children, and presented the institution with four bicycles. On “Russia Day” itself, students lined up in the school gym with flags — and chanted “Ru-si-ya!”.

Russia organizes a "holiday" for children from temporarily occupied territories in remote regions thousands of kilometers from home. This serves as an additional factor in the physical and psychological isolation of Ukrainian children from their environment, facilitating ideological processing through immersion in everything Russian. Children from the temporarily occupied territories are taken deep into Russia under the guise of visiting sanatoriums located in the so-called "main regions". Children from the Zaporizhzhya region are sent 1,500-2,000 kilometers from home - to Karelia, Chuvashia, other Russian regions, or even to Belarus. They "celebrate" Russian national holidays there, and they should also experience the "unity of the Slavic peoples" and "immerse themselves in the beauty of Belarusian culture."

Children from the Lugansk region were taken 1,200 kilometers to a “summer fairy tale” in the Vladimir region, where they got acquainted with the new socio-political environment, joined the celebration of “Russia Day” and other ideological events; residents of Lugansk were sent to Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Schoolchildren from the Donetsk region traveled almost three thousand kilometers to the “sponsored” Tyumen region, to educators from the “Movement of the Firsts” and “Eagles of Russia”.

“The Movement of the Firsts” is a national movement created in 2022 with the aim of organizing free activities for teenagers and forming a worldview “based on traditional Russian spiritual and moral values”. “Eagles” is a program for primary school children, which aims to “educate children with a sense of patriotism, respect for history and the exploits of Russian heroes”. Children from the Kherson region were taken to Adygea and Mordovia, and this happened under the auspices of “United Russia”.

Russia uses children’s sanatoriums as a tool for integrating Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories. Under the guise of health programs and “creative activities,” children are involved in events that glorify the Russian state, its symbols, and militaristic narratives, especially through the celebration of “Russia Day” or the cult of the “Great Victory.” This points to a deliberate strategy of Russification through the extracurricular environment. The programs that children are involved in in these institutions aim to form associations with Russian identity in children and to crowd out Ukrainian cultural consciousness. Children are taught a positive perception of Russian police officers. This is part of a broader strategy of legitimizing the occupation authorities in the eyes of children, which contributes to the psychological acceptance of the Russian regime and its repressive structures. Sending children from the temporarily occupied territories to remote Russian regions, such as Karelia, Chuvashia, or Tyumen Oblast, up to 3,000 kilometers from home, is a tool of isolation. Separation from their original environment facilitates ideological indoctrination, immersing children in the Russian socio-political environment, where they participate in propaganda activities, such as the celebration of Russian national holidays.

 

 

One of the directions of the occupiers' work with young people is the attempt to use schoolchildren and students in propaganda activities. Back in 2022, when creating a propaganda network of local media in the occupied territories, due to a lack of staff, schoolchildren were especially involved in the work of these media. Thus, one of the organizers of the network of newly created propaganda spokespeople, Oleksandr Malkevich, boasted of attracting and promoting Miroslava Butenko, who at the age of 15 began working on the Melitopol TV channel "ZaTV", and Vladislav Andreyev (Lugovskaya), who at the age of 16 was employed on the TV channel "Tavria".

In the same 2022, a "media school" was opened on the basis of the occupied Kherson State University with the participation of representatives of the local occupation administration and Russian propagandists for the further training of new personnel. After the de-occupation of Kherson, the "media school" was reopened in Genichesk in November 2023.

The work of propagandists to attract young people has not generally stopped. So, already in 2025, Malkevich held a master class on “documentary” filmmaking for activists of the “Movement of the First” and the “Young South” project in occupied Genichesk. He invited the participants of the event to take part in the creation of a film about the “Hero of Russia” Volodymyr Harlan, the head of the hospital in Oleshki and a candidate for the occupation “council of deputies” from “United Russia”, who was sentenced in absentia by a Ukrainian court to 12 years in prison. As CNN reported, “blog schools” are operating in Mariupol, in which schoolchildren and students sponsored by the Russian state participate. The main task of the young “bloggers” is to change the perception of Mariupol as a city destroyed by the Russian army and the site of the most terrible war crimes of the aggressors into a symbol of the “reconstruction of Donbass”. On social networks, especially TikTok, and to a foreign audience, young project participants are to show “Potemkin villages”, individually renovated houses and new residential complexes, and demonstrate how Mariupol “prosperes” under the occupiers.

The occupied territories are covered by all-Russian projects involving schoolchildren in media activities under the supervision of state institutions and organizations sponsored by them.

For example, on the page of school number 1 in Genichesk, applications from local students for participation in the “All-Russian Festival of Content Creators Medialabfest”, which is held with the support of the “Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives”. In addition, as part of the festival, a drawing for cash grants from the state organization “Rosmolod” (Federal Agency for Youth Affairs) is held. This event is presented as a “neutral” platform for providing knowledge and developing young talents. Last year, the competition was held around the slogan and hashtag “#расскажи_о_главном”, which is also used by representatives of the “Movement of the First”, who organize “field media laboratories” to involve young people in federal initiatives and the “All-Russian” agenda.

 

 

The Kremlin is paying close attention to the militarization of schoolchildren. Increasing the number of history lessons to three per week for students in grades 5-7, introducing the “History of Our Country” course, and updating the list of “patriotic books” for extracurricular reading are all part of this strategy. The literature list is dominated by militaristic works that glorify “great national” and imperial conquests, as well as so-called “Z-literature” that glorifies the war against Ukraine. Titles like “The Torch of Novorossiya” or “War 16+” promote the participation of children in military conflicts, normalize aggression, and encourage readiness for war.

As analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) write, these new textbooks, along with extracurricular “military-political” organizations, are designed to militarize Russian students. Putin declared 2025 the “Year of the Defender of the Fatherland,” the purpose of which is to “preserve historical memory, express gratitude to veterans, and recognize the feats of the participants of the SVO” (i.e., the war against Ukraine).

 

 

Police and Cadet Classes are specialized educational programs that the Russian occupation authorities introduced in schools in the occupied territories of Ukraine to prepare children for service in the Russian security forces. These classes are part of the system of patriotic education of young people in the spirit of Russian ideology and the formation of loyalty to the occupation authorities. Within the framework of these programs, in addition to regular school subjects, children study “combat” and military training, hand-to-hand combat, and learn the basics of law enforcement. The purpose of such classes is to prepare schoolchildren for military service and civilian service in the system of Russian law enforcement agencies: the police, the Russian Guard, the FSB, the FSVP (Federal Service for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions).

The so-called Ministry of Education of the occupied Kherson Oblast writes that adapted and additional educational programs contribute to the preparation of schoolchildren for military service, as well as for civilian service in the system of law enforcement agencies, rescuers, and the “Russian Cossacks.” In total, the occupation administrations in the territories of four regions (Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson) plan to organize 1,200 classes, some of which will relate to civilian and some to military “specializations”.

Initially, such police classes were introduced in Russia in 2021. After the start of the full-scale invasion, this experience began to be transferred to the occupied territories. They appeared in the Kherson region in September 2023. Since January 2025, nine cadet classes have been held in five schools in the Kherson region, in which at least 205 children of secondary and higher school age have participated.

The first cadet class was established at the Shchaslivtsi school in the Genichesk municipal district back in the 2023/2024 school season. In 2024, a cadet class was opened at the Grigoriv school in the Chaplin district for students in grades 6 and 7 with the participation of the Russian Union of Patriotic Associations “Heavenly Dome”.

In Skadovsk, a cadet class sponsored by the Russian National Guard was opened on September 1, 2024. And in the Sivas school in the Novotroitsky district, both a cadet and a police class were opened in September 2024 - 14 students received certificates of belonging to law enforcement agencies. This class was opened by the collaborator, the occupation “governor” of the Kherson region, former people's deputy Volodymyr Saldo, who said that the purpose of such a class was “to educate true patriots of Russia”.

The occupation authorities organize trips to Russia for students of cadet classes. In particular, at the end of June 2025, students of two cadet classes from the Kherson region visited St. Petersburg to celebrate Navy Day “on behalf of the head of the “United Russia” party, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.” And in May 2025, the occupation Ministry of Education of the Kherson region organized the participation of Kherson cadets in the parade of the Moscow cadet movement entitled “The Connection of Generations Will Not Be Broken” with the participation of representatives of the Russian elite, for example, Moscow Mayor Alexei Sobyanin and Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill, in order to “confirm the unity of the Kherson region with Russia.” In the occupied territories, Russia educates Ukrainian children in the spirit of adhering to the “traditions of law enforcement agencies,” essentially training supervisors and loyal local “official personnel” to strengthen control over the occupied part of Ukraine.

 

 

In 2023, centers for military-sports training and patriotic education of youth "Ratnik" were opened in 12 regions of Russia. The initiative belongs to the co-chairman of the "Russian Martial Arts Union" and the first deputy head of the presidential administration of Russia Sergey Kiriyenko. Regional branches of the center began operating on May 11, 2023. The centers are intended for adolescents and young people aged 14 to 35. As of 2025, such centers are already operating in 21 regions, including the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The program includes: tactical, fire, engineering training, communications, tactical medicine, drone control. As of 2023, more than 11,500 cadets have been trained. The declared goals of the "Ratnik" center, according to information on the official website, are ideological:

 

- military and sports training and patriotic education;

 

- development of a system of military and sports training of Russian citizens;

 

- implementation of a state policy of strengthening "traditional Russian spiritual and moral values".

 

In the occupied territories, the organization involves Ukrainian children. In particular, trial classes were held at school No. 1 in Genichesk for students who expressed a desire to train in the “Warrior”. The events included psychological testing, assessment of physical fitness and identification of leadership qualities.

The occupation authorities are sending children and adolescents from the occupied territories to militarized camps, as reported by the occupation “governor” of the Kherson region, associate Volodymyr Saldo, on his Telegram channel. In July 2025, the fourth interregional shift “Time of

Young Heroes” from the “Warrior” center was completed in the Volgograd region. Teenagers from the occupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions aged 14 to 17 took part in the event. In particular, 50 Ukrainian children from the Kherson region took part in this action.

The organization is one of the elements of the system of militarization of youth in the occupied Ukrainian territories, formation of loyalty to the Russian authorities and preparation of adolescents for participation in the war against Ukraine.

 

 

Systemic nature of assimilation: the occupation administration has created a centralized system for integrating children into Russian space through changing textbooks, introducing new courses, and exchange programs with Russian "mainland" regions, which is monitored through public communications of schools in the temporarily occupied territories on social networks.

Use of recreation for propaganda: children's sanatoriums and camps have been transformed into centers of ideological indoctrination. Children are taken to remote Russian regions up to 3,000 km away to isolate them from the Ukrainian environment.

Involvement in propaganda: schoolchildren in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine are used in media projects, "blog schools" and content festivals to spread Russian narratives.

Militarization of education: specialized classes are organized in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and military-patriotic organizations ("Ratnik", "Yunarmiya") operate according to the Russian model, preparing children for service in the Russian security forces.

 

Recommendations

 

Based on the study, a number of recommendations can be offered to Ukrainian state institutions and international organizations:

 

- strengthening online educational programs for children in the temporarily occupied territories;

 

- developing reintegration programs for children after de-occupation;

 

- documenting violations of children's rights for international trials;

 

- promoting recognition and condemnation of the system of forced deportation of children from the temporarily occupied territories to Russia or their assimilation as a crime of genocide;

 

- forming the basis of the evidence base for introducing or strengthening sanctions against those responsible for these crimes;

 

- involving international projects and programs to support educational initiatives on the front lines and in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine.