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"The goal is to make them hate Ukraine": Russians intensify militarisation of children in occupied Zaporizhzhia
5 May 2025
Source: Ivan Fedorov, Head of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration, on the national joint 24/7 newscast
Details: "If earlier the enemy's goal was to make people love Russia, now it is to make them hate Ukraine," Fedorov said.
He stated that the Russians are doing everything to achieve this goal. In particular, they have increased funding for propagandistic militarised organisations such as Yunarmiya (Young Army) and Voyin (Warrior).
This year, the Russians plan to allocate billions of roubles for these organisations. Fedorov noted that this is "two or even three times" more than in 2024.
He also added that the Russians are constructing a network of so-called "military-patriotic" centres where children are trained in military strategy and tactics. One such centre is already being launched in the occupied city of Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
...
"Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories are having their psyches broken so that in 5-10 years, Russia will have an army ready to kill anyone on the Kremlin’s orders," Fedorov said.
Background: Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets previously reported that last year, around 1,000 children from the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast were recruited into the militarised propaganda movement Yunarmiya.
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/05/5/7510688/
Reports like this are a riposte to those who take a sanguine view of Putin's plan to hold on to disputed territory invaded and partially occupied in 2014, then even more in 2022 - "Oh, they're Russian speakers there anyway, it would be no great loss to Ukraine. Why fight with massive human cost over bits of land and what flag flies over them?"
This treatment of Ukrainian youths, which amounts to attempted brainwashing, is not confined to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, as a number of studies have explored. In addition, various acts of repression, unlawful abduction and detention, systematic torture and unlawful killing of civilians of all ages have been reported in these areas.
Here's a briefing from the European Parliament in February (summary re-paragraphed for better ease of reading):
Russia's war on Ukraine: Forcibly displaced Ukrainian children
The invasion of Ukraine enters its 4th year in 2025, resulting in further displacement.
On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights. The pair are accused of the 'war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation'.
According to the ICC, there are reasonable grounds to believe that President Putin 'committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others', or that he failed to properly control 'civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility'.
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, evidence has been collected about core international crimes committed against Ukrainian children. Multiple reports consider Russia to be in breach of the obligations set in several international treaties and instruments to which Russia is party, and of customary international law.
It is well documented that, since the start of the invasion, certain categories of individuals, including women and children, have been disproportionately affected by the conflict. International organisations, institutional actors and civil society organisations have repeatedly warned about the great burden on children, including but not limited to trafficking, sexual exploitation, abduction and illegal adoption.
Beyond the strictly legal consequences of the arrest warrant, some commentators argue that the arrest warrant against Putin may help to undermine the Russian leader's war efforts, as the international community universally sees the abduction of children as unacceptable.
No matter what the geopolitical arguments are, removing children from their families or from care facilities and forcibly transferring them is universally considered a reprehensible act of violence. This is an update of a 2023 publication written by Micaela Del Monte with Nefeli Barlaoura.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2023)747093
The invasion of Ukraine enters its 4th year in 2025, resulting in further displacement.
On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights. The pair are accused of the 'war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation'.
According to the ICC, there are reasonable grounds to believe that President Putin 'committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others', or that he failed to properly control 'civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility'.
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, evidence has been collected about core international crimes committed against Ukrainian children. Multiple reports consider Russia to be in breach of the obligations set in several international treaties and instruments to which Russia is party, and of customary international law.
It is well documented that, since the start of the invasion, certain categories of individuals, including women and children, have been disproportionately affected by the conflict. International organisations, institutional actors and civil society organisations have repeatedly warned about the great burden on children, including but not limited to trafficking, sexual exploitation, abduction and illegal adoption.
Beyond the strictly legal consequences of the arrest warrant, some commentators argue that the arrest warrant against Putin may help to undermine the Russian leader's war efforts, as the international community universally sees the abduction of children as unacceptable.
No matter what the geopolitical arguments are, removing children from their families or from care facilities and forcibly transferring them is universally considered a reprehensible act of violence. This is an update of a 2023 publication written by Micaela Del Monte with Nefeli Barlaoura.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2023)747093
In March, the Yale School of Medicine issued a fact sheet, cautiously labelling Russia's actions as possibly constituting "war crimes and crimes against humanity", but describing what are unmistakeably acts of genocide:
Fact Sheet: Russia's Kidnapping and Re-education of Ukraine's Children
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine includes a systematic campaign of forcibly moving children from Ukraine into Russia, fracturing their connection to Ukrainian language and heritage through “re-education,” and even disconnecting children from their Ukrainian identities through adoption. Children documented by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) range in age from four months to 17 years, and many have families looking for them in Ukraine.
Keep this investigation going and donate by selecting "Other" and entering "HRL."
* More than 19,000 children from Ukraine have been deported to Russia. Only 1,236 children have been returned to Ukraine. The actual number of children remaining in Russia is likely significantly higher.
* Yale HRL has identified more than 8,400 children from Ukraine who have been systematically relocated to at least 57 facilities––including 13 facilities in Belarus and 43 facilities in Russia and Russia-occupied territory.
* Russia targeted vulnerable groups of children for deportation, including orphans, children with disabilities, children from low-income families, and children with parents in the military.
* There are documented cases in which children were physically abused, denied communication with their families in Ukraine, and given inadequate access to food and care after being taken to Russia.
* Russia has refused to give Ukrainian authorities a list of children taken to Russia––as required by international law––and has engaged in various activities to conceal their forced deportation and illegal adoption of children from Ukraine.
* The kidnapping and indoctrination, including military training, of children from Ukraine was ordered by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and executed by Russia’s federal, regional, and occupation officials. Russia’s security services and criminal investigative agency systematically targeted vulnerable groups of children and transported them to Russia, where regional officials subjected them to re-education and listed children for adoption. Russia’s Investigative Committee has set recruitment quotas and designated a cadet school for children from Ukraine, creating a direct pipeline into federal security service.
* Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the forced deportation of Ukraine’s children.
* Hundreds of children––including those with families––were taken from Ukraine and illegally placed for adoption in Russia or placed in Russian families. In at least one case, Russia’s government re-issued the child’s birth certificate, changing the child’s name and place of birth. Such changes in personal information present significant barriers to identifying the child for return.
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/fact-sheet-russias-kidnapping-and-re-education-of-ukraines-children/
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine includes a systematic campaign of forcibly moving children from Ukraine into Russia, fracturing their connection to Ukrainian language and heritage through “re-education,” and even disconnecting children from their Ukrainian identities through adoption. Children documented by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) range in age from four months to 17 years, and many have families looking for them in Ukraine.
Keep this investigation going and donate by selecting "Other" and entering "HRL."
* More than 19,000 children from Ukraine have been deported to Russia. Only 1,236 children have been returned to Ukraine. The actual number of children remaining in Russia is likely significantly higher.
* Yale HRL has identified more than 8,400 children from Ukraine who have been systematically relocated to at least 57 facilities––including 13 facilities in Belarus and 43 facilities in Russia and Russia-occupied territory.
* Russia targeted vulnerable groups of children for deportation, including orphans, children with disabilities, children from low-income families, and children with parents in the military.
* There are documented cases in which children were physically abused, denied communication with their families in Ukraine, and given inadequate access to food and care after being taken to Russia.
* Russia has refused to give Ukrainian authorities a list of children taken to Russia––as required by international law––and has engaged in various activities to conceal their forced deportation and illegal adoption of children from Ukraine.
* The kidnapping and indoctrination, including military training, of children from Ukraine was ordered by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and executed by Russia’s federal, regional, and occupation officials. Russia’s security services and criminal investigative agency systematically targeted vulnerable groups of children and transported them to Russia, where regional officials subjected them to re-education and listed children for adoption. Russia’s Investigative Committee has set recruitment quotas and designated a cadet school for children from Ukraine, creating a direct pipeline into federal security service.
* Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the forced deportation of Ukraine’s children.
* Hundreds of children––including those with families––were taken from Ukraine and illegally placed for adoption in Russia or placed in Russian families. In at least one case, Russia’s government re-issued the child’s birth certificate, changing the child’s name and place of birth. Such changes in personal information present significant barriers to identifying the child for return.
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/fact-sheet-russias-kidnapping-and-re-education-of-ukraines-children/
Such activities were no doubt what Putin had in mind for his "de-nazification" campaign on the entire Ukrainian population if his invasion in 2022 had gone according to his original plans.
Ukraine would have been a significant stepping stone to build up enlarged armed forces under Russian control to further pursue Putin's imperial ambitions in Europe. Those who didn't comply would have been exiled, interned and/or eliminated.
X-Posted in General Discussion: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220295496
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