In Crimea, children are taught war and hatred of Ukrainians

In the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula, schoolchildren and students are being trained to fly drones, which is a manifestation of the forced militarization of Ukrainian children.

This was stated by Myroslava Kharchenko, Head of the Legal Department of the Save Ukraine Charitable Foundation, in a commentary for the Krym.Realii project.

According to her, such programs most often involve high school students and students of Crimean universities. The training is conducted by the Russian military, which took part in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Kharchenko emphasizes that it is not just about technical skills in flying drones. According to her, during the training, young people are indoctrinated with hostile ideology and hatred of Ukrainians.

"They are not just taught how to use weapons, they are taught that killing Ukrainians is a feat," she said.

The foundation emphasizes that such actions are a violation of international law and indicate the systematic militarization of children in the occupied territories.

Earlier, Intent wrote that in the Russian-annexed Crimea, drone operators are being actively trained, involving schoolchildren. Ukrainian intelligence has stated that such militarization of children and development of UAV infrastructure poses a threat to mainland Ukraine.

According to Andriy Chernyak, a representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, this is a serious threat, as Russia is systematically training the younger generation in the spirit of militarization.

In addition to training, the production of drones has also been established in Crimea. In particular, they manufactured the Sarych-2 drone, which was used at the front, although experts assessed it as a tactical-level device with limited capabilities. Other models, including the "Surprise," were also spotted, which were inferior to Ukrainian developments in terms of range and payload.

Also in April, in occupied Bakhchisarai, the occupiers organized a ten-day military training for children and teenagers, where they were taught to shoot, fly attack drones, and undergo paratrooper training.

Андрій Колісніченко