A young man from the Kherson region who went missing during the war joined the Russian army

<span><span><span><span><span><span>The Back to Ukraine team has, for the first time, documented a case in which a child who went missing from the Kherson region joined the Russian army and is fighting against Ukraine. </span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>This was reported by Mykola Kuleba, the President’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights.  </span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>Oleksandr Mustyats from the village of Krynky is still listed as missing in the state registry “Children of War.” On his social media page, he posted photos of himself in uniform with “Z” symbols and the Russian flag, as well as from the positions from which he fought against Ukraine. In a later photo, he is wearing a head bandage, presumably after being wounded. The young man has not updated his social media page since last November. </span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>“To many, this may seem like a story of personal choice. But in reality, it shows what is happening to Ukrainian children who have been living under Russian occupation for years,” Mykola Kuleba noted </span></span></span></span></span></span>.

<span><span><span><span><span><span>He pointed out that under occupation, Ukrainian children—starting as early as kindergarten and school—are indoctrinated into a cult of the military, forced to participate in military-patriotic events, join “Yunarmiya,” taught how to handle weapons, and convinced that Ukraine is the enemy. For a child who has lived exclusively in this reality for years, war becomes not just the norm, but a duty. </span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>Earlier, juvenile</span></span></span></span></span></span> prosecutors in the Kherson region filed an indictment against the head of the Kherson branch of “Yunarmiya.” The defendant coordinated the work of the movement’s regional and local branches and recruited schoolchildren into it. 

The defendant appeared in videos in which he encouraged Ukrainian youth to join the Russian Armed Forces. In one such video, the defendant stated that 12 “Yunarmiya” units hadbeen established in the occupied Kherson region. There, children underwent “physical and cultural training” and were later to fight for Russia. 

Юлія Калабайда