Collaborators involved thousands of Ukrainian children in the military movement of the Russian Federation

Seven Ukrainian citizens have been suspected of organizing the military-patriotic movement 'Yunarmiya' in the occupied territories and involving more than six thousand children in it.

This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Juvenile prosecutors of the Prosecutor General's Office charge the suspects with committing crimes as part of an organized group under a number of articles of the Criminal Code, including violation of the laws and customs of war and justification of armed aggression by the Russian Federation.

According to the investigation, Yunarmiya was created in 2016 at the initiative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, and today its activities are spread throughout the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, in particular in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. The main goal of this movement is to involve Ukrainian children in military training and to form their 'loyalty to the new homeland'.

It has been established that the head of the regional headquarters of the so-called "DPR Youth Army" together with six heads of local units recruited more than 6,000 Ukrainian children in Donetsk region alone in 2019-2025. They agitated children to join the Russian army, promising benefits and career opportunities, organized military training - teaching them how to use weapons, conducting drills and organizing military events. The suspects also actively produced and distributed materials denying and justifying Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

The investigation recorded numerous cases when the 'Yunarmiya' trainees joined the Russian army after reaching the age of majority and took part in hostilities against Ukraine. In addition, on March 15, 2022, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation issued an order to involve members of the "Yunarmiya" in the so-called "special military operation", and the Strategy for the Development of Patriotic Education in the Russian Federation stipulates that at least 10% of recruits to the armed forces should come from this movement.

The systemic nature of the crime was also noted by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which in its report of March 1, 2024, specifically emphasized the need to immediately end the policy of militarization of children in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories.

The pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings is carried out by the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine, and the crimes are punishable by up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.

Катерина Глушко