An army of one and a half million: children from the occupied Kherson region turned into soldiers

In the occupied Kherson region, children are being forced into Russia's military programs, turning schoolchildren into potential soldiers. Those who refuse are punished, and participants are provided with privileges and special rewards.

The BBC reported on the militarization of children in the occupied territories.

In the occupied part of the Kherson region, Ukrainian children are becoming members of the Russian military-patriotic movement Unarmia. The oldest students are 17 years old, the youngest are eight years old. Members of this organization receive benefits: separate meals, medals, awards, and better grades, even if they do not know the lesson material. Other students who refuse to join the movement are left without privileges and are forced to limit themselves to modest meals and suffer from prejudiced attitudes of teachers.

According to students' observations, one-third to one-half of the class is studying under militarized programs. These can be cadet classes supervised by the Rosgvardia or the Unarmy, which prepares children for service in the Russian army or other security forces. They are sent to Russian military-patriotic camps during the holidays, where they are trained in shooting, tactics, tactical medicine, handling grenades, machine guns and even flamethrowers.

The militarization of Ukrainian children. INFOGRAPHICS: bbc.com

According to media reports, there are more than 43,000 children in the "Yunarmiya" in the occupied territories. The Office of the Ukrainian Ombudsman estimates the total number of schoolchildren in the occupied territories at about 600,000. Of these, all those born during the war do not know any other reality.

Children are taught ideologically: how to disassemble and assemble weapons, kiss the Russian flag, sing the national anthem, and honor the "heroes of the DPR" and the fallen participants in the war against Ukraine. In the classroom, Ukrainians are portrayed as "neo-Nazis," denying the existence of Ukraine as a state, and imposing the idea that fighting for Russia is an honor. Staged scenes are often used, where children repeat memorized slogans and demonstrate knowledge of the rules of handling weapons.

The occupiers conduct such programs not only in schools, but also in camps, cadet schools, sanatoriums, and military bases. Children from the occupied territories go to camps in the Moscow region and Krasnodar Territory, participate in military sports games such as Zarnitsa 2.0, Unavia, and Unflot. There, they are divided into "armies" and taught to fly drones, cyber warfare, information attacks, and drill.

The militarization of Ukrainian children. INFOGRAPHICS: bbc.com

According to the BBC, Ukraine has managed to return more than 1500 children from the occupation and from Russia. Human rights activists warn that if the problem of child abductions is ignored, Russia could get up to 1.6 million Ukrainian children, turning them into a weapon against the security of Europe and the whole world.

At the end of October, seven Ukrainian citizens were suspected of organizing the Yunarmiya movement in the occupied territories and involving more than six thousand children in it. According to the investigation, the organization was established in 2016 at the initiative of the Russian Ministry of Defense and is currently operating in all temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine - in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. The main goal of the movement is to involve children in military training and to instill in them "loyalty to the new homeland."

Анна Бальчінос