NOTE: All images shown, unless otherwise identified, were published as official content by the Yunarmiya Zaporizhzhia organization Telegram channel. Dates are the publication dates.
A Moscow-run campaign to militarize the youth of the five occupied Ukrainian territories and to convince them to be loyal to Russia has been in place for years is now out in the open – and it’s accelerating.
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Kyiv Post reviewed reports and materials published by Yunarmiya – the organization responsible for mobilizing the hearts and minds of Ukrainian youth – in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region since August 2023. It found powerful evidence of a concerted Kremlin effort to motivate Ukrainian minors to hate the country in which they were born and to become patriotic Russian citizens.
Yunarmiya – the All-Russian Military Patriotic Social Movement “Young Army” – was founded in Moscow in October 2015 to “instill the values of patriotism, national service, national and military history” in Russian youth.
A flood of content published from August 2023 show children and teenagers pledging allegiance to the Russian Federation flag; attending lectures on sacrifice made by Afghan War Veterans; laying wreaths at the graves of those who died in WWII, Afghanistan and the war in Ukraine; visiting historical museums; handing flowers to World War Two veterans; marching and doing push-ups in formation; reciting patriotic poetry; assembling and disassembling automatic rifles; meeting combat veterans of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The US-based research group the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Russian state propaganda, the planned removal and deportation of Ukrainian children to summer camps in occupied Ukraine and throughout the Russian Federation on Wednesday. It said the Russian state, as a matter of policy, is targeting Ukraine’s youth with media, social enticements and biased educational messaging with the declared objective of turning them into loyal Russian citizens.
“Russian occupation officials are institutionalizing their commitment to the indoctrination and militarization of Ukrainian children,” the ISW report said.
About 70% of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region is currently under Russian control, following Russia’s February 2022 lightning invasion that ended with the occupation of the medium-sized cities Berdyansk and Melitopol, but halted short of the regional capital and industrial city Zaporizhzhia.
The front line in that sector has often been violent but has shifted little since then, leaving about half of the region’s population – some 700,000 people in total and around 170,000 youths under 18 according to Ukraine’s pre-war census – is living under Russian law, educated by the Russian state, and able to easily access only Kremlin-controlled media.
Ukrainian officials have estimated between 3 and 3.5 million people and 700,000-800,000 children live in the occupied territories – a potential indoctrination target and recruiting pool Kyiv says the Kremlin cannot afford to ignore.
According to official Telegram and Vkontakt pages, anyone aged 8 to 18 in the Zaporizhzhia Region can become Yunarmiya members, in which capacity Moscow claims, “They will improve their physical fitness, knowledge of Russian history and culture, acquire military-applied skills, and participate in charity and social events.” A perk of membership is the official right to don the natty Yunarmiya uniform of red beret, matching polo short-sleeve, khaki trousers and desert-style boots with red boot laces.
On March 5, in a ceremony typical of Russian state co-operation between government institutions and state-sponsored non-government organizations, held at Berdyansk School Number 16, educators oversaw the initiation of new members into Yunarmiya on school premises. They handed out diplomas and congratulated children – decked out in their spiffy Yunarmiya outfits – on their patriotism.
Local media reported it as a typical educational event. Ukrainian news platforms, in contrast, called it brainwashing Ukrainian children to fight against their own countrymen:
“The ceremony bore all the hallmarks of a carefully planned propaganda campaign. Schoolchildren were forced to take an oath of allegiance to the occupation system, after which they were ceremoniously presented with ‘military cards.’”
“…In schools under the control of the occupation authorities, so-called ‘correct’ [pro-Russian] values are constantly imposed on students. Conversations about ‘what is important’ have become a powerful tool for the ideological manipulation of the consciousness of young people,” an RIA Pivden news report said.
“After the solemn oath, the newly-minted ‘Young Army’ members had their first drill training session. The schoolchildren were taught to march and salute. These manipulative practices directly prepare children for participation in the military-patriotic game ‘Zarnitsa 2.0,’ which simulates military operations and is, in fact, a hidden form of militaristic propaganda,” the report added.
Zarnitsitsa was a Soviet-era field event featuring camping, riflery, and field tactics for children and teenagers. The Putin regime renewed the practice, renamed it “Zarnitsa 2.0,” with youth teams matching skills in local competitions across Russia’s thirteen time zones, and winners battling it out in finals aired on national television.
In February 2024, in one of the lower Zarnitsa events, a Yunarmiya Zaporizhzhia competitive paintball team fought battles against shooters from another pro-Russia youth social group called the Volunteer Company. Two rounds were played, with each team taking turns to “assault” then “defend.” An account of the “game” said, “The guys were able to test their endurance, tactical thinking and resourcefulness, and have a good time playing.”
The director and senior official of Yunarmiya Zaporizhzhia, a Ufa-born military volunteer named Fidayil Bukubulatov, said in comments on his personal VKontakte page in March 2024 that external allegations that the Russian state is using Zarnitsa to convert Ukrainian children into ready-for-war combatants are Western propaganda.
“This is all fake news on Ukrainian public pages… Supposedly in the Zaporizhzhia region the youngest schoolchildren are being militarized… (this is) the crude work of Ukrainian propagandists. The public movement Yunarmiya, created in 2016 [sic] on the initiative of the Ministry of Defense, is aimed at educating young people to be ready to serve the Fatherland.”
“The goals and objectives of the organization – and this is spelled out in the charter – are to conduct work on conscription military training, increase the prestige of service in the armed forces, and develop some practical skills. We give initial skills and abilities that can be useful to the guys if they later want to connect their lives with military service,” Bikbulatov said.
Notwithstanding these claims, content published by his own organization shows Ukrainian children participating in parachute jumping, riflery, marching, and sharing group songs at the Avangard Youth-Military training center, a Russian army-operated facility in Russia’s Volgograd region, in 2024 and 2025.
The European Union, in its 16th sanctions package against Russia, sanctioned Bikbulatov by name as complicit in the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and potentially responsible for war crimes.
European Parliament member Patras Austrevicius, in a speech to the European Parliament on May 8, said, “There are many aspects of Russia’s open aggression against Ukraine and Ukrainians. Unfortunately, one of them is the theft and forced deportation of Ukrainian children to the aggressor country.”
“…Kidnapping children is a way of influencing their identity, Russifying them and subordinating them to another Russian mission… the abduction, indoctrination and forced adaptation is a continuation of Russian war crimes, which must be punished accordingly.”
In April, lead US negotiator Steve Witkoff told reporters the Russo-Ukraine War could be ended immediately if only Ukraine would agree to turn over the entirety of its occupied territories, including Zaporizhzhia, to Russia.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marc Rubio doubled down, saying the main barrier to peace between Russia and Ukraine was that Russia had not – yet – conquered all the parts of Ukraine it wanted.
On May 15, according to the Ukrainian government’s Center for Countering Disinformation, the Kremlin widened its campaign at young Ukrainian hearts and minds and launched a media and public information campaign targeting Ukrainian children of preschool age.
(via @Oklahoma Football)
