Russia Is Indoctrinating Children in Occupied Ukraine

The Kremlin is forcing Ukrainian children and teens in occupied areas to join Russian propagandist groups in an effort to erase their Ukrainian identity, Ukraine’s National Resistance Center reported on December 8.

Youth Army: One of the largest and most dangerous of these groups is the Russian military-patriotic organization known as Yunarmia (Youth Army). This group runs a program with camps, activity centers, military training sessions and classes all aimed to educate the youth for participation in war. It has branches in occupied Ukrainian territories such as Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

Ukrainian groups such as Crimea SOS and Almenda reported that Ukrainian children as young as 8 years old are pressured to join Yunarmia. In one case, 100 children from the Donetsk region were forcibly recruited and taken to Rostov to become part of the movement.

Indoctrination: Sabina Iliasov, coordinator at Crimea SOS, said Yunarmia’s program continually praises Russian President Vladimir Putin and his so-called special military operation, claiming that the war is “denazifying” Ukraine.

Ukrainian children are often forced to support the Russians by writing letters of support and assembling humanitarian aid boxes for Russian troops, a report by media site UkraineWorld said. The children are taught that Ukraine and its allies are the enemy, turning them against their homeland.

“Russia wipes out their Ukrainian identity, depriving these children of their true personality, and Ukraine—of its future,” the report said.

Since the start of the war, thousands of Ukrainian children have fallen victim to these Russian “reeducation” efforts.

‘Prince of Russia’: Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has identified Vladimir Putin as the “prince of Rosh” discussed in Scripture. Putin intends to use these kidnapped and indoctrinated Ukrainian children as soldiers in future wars to help him fulfill his dream of a renewed imperial Russia.

Learn more: Read “Russia Is Stealing the Gift of God.”