“Men in uniform watched us fill out tests”: How Russia “re-educates” Ukrainian schoolchildren in the occupied territories
Marina Kovyneva, the project leader and chief methodologist at Don State Technical University, compiled a set of guidelines titled How to Build Resilience Against the Spread of Destructive Ideas Among Children from Combat Zones, which was issued by the National Center for Information Counteraction to Terrorism and Extremism in Educational Environments and the Internet. From June to September 2022, her team conducted 10 sessions for 2,000 teenagers evacuated from occupied regions. According to Kovyneva, many children said that “Ukraine has nothing to do with Nazism,” then drew swastikas and shouted: “Ukraine will live forever! Glory to Ukraine!”
Under Kovyneva’s guidance, the children took a course titled “The Baptism of Rus,” which focused on the “correct” version of history, saying: “I always stressed the name of the state, ‘Kievan Rus,’ and the image of Vladimir the Great, prince of Kiev and all Rus,’” At the end of the summer school, Kovyneva noted that some of the Ukrainian children “left deep in thought,” while others “thanked and hugged me with tears for the truth they learned and heard for the first time at our lessons.”
A Donetsk educator assigned to teach at the University Summer Schools described the psychological effects of re-education to The Insider:
“They make such an effort to integrate children into Russian society because they still remember Ukraine. One could call it cultural exposure if both languages had been preserved in our territories and Ukrainian was taught as extensively as before 2014. Instead, they’ve knocked the ground out from under the children’s feet in terms of national identity — erased it, and replaced it with another. It’s similar to how Nazi Germany took children from other countries who met the ‘Aryan standards’ and raised them under their propaganda.”
The U.S. Institute for the Study of War draws a similar conclusion: “These various summer camp programs are intended to indoctrinate and militarize Ukrainian children, eradicating their Ukrainian identities and instilling pro-Russian hyper-militarized sentiments in them to create the next generation of loyal Russians.”
Young propagandists' school
Launched in the “liberated territories” just a few months after the occupation of Kherson began, the Tavriya Youth Media School expected its best graduates to become employees of local television and radio companies and deliver “truthful information” to their fellow residents.
According to propagandist Alexander Malkevich, the school's founder and the First Deputy Chair of the Media Commission of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, a career in local journalism will serve as an “example of ‘Stalinist-era’ social mobility.” Since 2022, Malkevich has worked in political messaging for the late Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s team and has launched several TV companies: Tavriya TV in Kherson Oblast, ZA TV in Melitopol, and Mariupol 24. He was awarded a medal for the “operation to evacuate correspondents” from Kherson.
The first cohort of the media school included about 50 participants aged 15 to 47. Malkevich hired minors to work at his TV channels: for example, Vlada Lugovskaya was filming news segments for Tavriya starting at the age of 15, and some staff members were 16–17 years old. The propagandist acknowledges that he rules out freedom of expression and aims to provide children with “consistent information about ongoing processes.” In his own words:
“I don’t understand why there should be a spectrum of opinions when we’ve been declared at war. And we’re not promoting some gloomy ideology.”
In Zaporizhzhia Region, blogger and Melitopol native Alexander Gurov founded the Mediatopol School of Journalism. Reporters Without Borders describe the organization as a “Kremlin propaganda school.” Among the students are teenagers: Gurov mentioned 16-year-old Kostya Nizhnikov, who is “already earning money from his work.”
Gurov himself is 21 years old. He works as a press secretary for the presidential platform “Russia: Land of Opportunity” in Zaporizhzhia Region. The latest news about the media school was published in May 2024 on the Telegram channel of the YugMolodoy (“Young South”) movement.
Further efforts to raise young propagandists were visible at a media center in Mariupol intended for schoolchildren aged 14 to 17. Founded in September 2024 by graduates of the Russian government program New Media Workshop, the project is partially funded by a presidential grant of nearly 12 million rubles ($150,000). As part of learning “ the basics of media work,” students are taken on tours of federal TV studios and are offered internships at editorial offices of pro-government media outlets such as Komsomolskaya Pravda, AiF, and News Media, with prospects of employment. One student already works at Mash.
The “School of Bloggers,” founded by the Donbas Media Center in Luhansk in 2024, invites those aged 16 to 25, promising to teach them how to shoot and edit videos, promote content on social media, and engage with followers. The project has graduated over 100 participants and also opened branches in Mariupol, Donetsk, and Melitopol.
The tuition is free of charge, a point emphasized in school commercials on regional channels. The School of Bloggers takes pride in its international recognition: CNN journalists covered its activities as part of an investigation into the propaganda efforts of pro-Russian bloggers, highlighting their collaboration with the Kremlin’s program Russia: Land of Opportunity.
“Look at all those Russkies coming here”
Another regular re-education practice involves organizing meetings of demobilized war veterans with Ukrainian schoolchildren living under occupation. The exact frequency — and toll — of these events is unknown, but in honor of the “Liberation of Mariupol Day” alone, the “DPR” authorities organized 70 events for 1,500 teenagers. During these gatherings, schoolchildren interacted with soldiers and examined replica weapons. “Special military operation fighters” often conduct so-called “Lessons of Courage” at schools. The Donetsk Cadet Corps hosted a session by Artem and Denis Lopatin, a father and son who went to the front lines at the very start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, where they participated in the Battle of Mariupol. After being demobilized, they met with around 100 schoolchildren as part of the Russia: Land of Opportunity project.
Another entry in this genre is the Open Dialogues organized by the Znaniye (“Knowledge”) Russian Society. In Luhansk, for instance, a participant in the “special military operation” gave a lecture titled Knowledge: Heroes. More than 1,000 teenagers from Luhansk attended such events throughout 2024. In addition, the Russian Patriot Center organizes Dialogues with Heroes for children, including those in occupied territories. On International Women’s Day, Young Army members in Zaporizhzhia Region spoke with a “special military operation” participant serving as a military doctor.
Teachers who bring their students to “patriotic events” are not necessarily acting of their own free will, as their colleague from Donetsk told The Insider:
“This is a huge system, and every person in it is just a cog. The teacher pressures the student, the administration pressures the teacher, the education department pressures the administration, the regional Ministry of Education pressures the education department, and the federal Ministry of Education and Science pressures the regional ministry. It’s a massive system where everyone acts formally, no one truly cares, but everyone puts pressure on everyone else.”
Patriotic events are the responsibility of educational advisors to the headmaster, who work in coordination with public organizations. As a teacher explains: “This purely propagandist but well-paid position has been introduced in all schools and vocational institutions. It’s like a Soviet-era pioneer leader, but now it’s called a ‘Childhood Navigator.’ To get the job, one has to take a course and pass exams. I’ve seen these advisers — they dress almost identically, wear ‘Childhood Navigator’ badges, don’t interact with teachers, and have the same lifeless eyes.”
They also organize meetings with “special military operation participants” following a standard format: the “hero” shares their life story, explains when and why they decided to sign a contract and come to Donbas, recounts combat experiences, offers words of advice, and takes questions from the audience.