Russia is using schools in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories as a direct tool for the militarization and ideological indoctrination of children.
Head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Prokudin said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
“Russian invaders are using schools as a direct tool for militarization and ideological indoctrination. Educational institutions in the temporarily occupied territories are placed under round-the-clock security by the Russian National Guard. They have banned students from using phones and threatened parents with the loss of parental rights and confiscation of property if they refuse to send their children to so-called patriotic education classes.
“Through organizations such as the Movement of the First and Yunarmiya, teenagers are forced to participate in propaganda events, taught basic military skills, and prepared to become ‘cannon fodder,’” Prokudin said.
He stressed that mobilization in the Russian-occupied areas on the left bank of the Kherson region has been going on for a long time and is systematic. Russian forces regularly conduct nighttime raids, go from house to house, and block streets in some settlements in order to hand men military draft notices. At checkpoints for travel to Crimea, men of conscription age are turned back without explanation. However, the enemy’s most cynical focus is on young people.
