War

Day 1524. The Russian Ministry of Defense denies that it is forcing students to go to war. At the same time in Ufa: students are offered to send “an acquaintance, a friend, a brother” to the war

Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We publish your letters every day because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Share with us your thoughts about the war. What feelings are you experiencing? How does war affect your life and your attitude towards the world? If you have a story related to the war, tell it . The feedback form is at the end of this article. You can read the previous day's review here .

Russia

The Russian Ministry of Defense denies that it is forcing students at Russian universities and colleges to become drone operators. This was stated on April 27 by Deputy Minister of Defense - Head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the RF Armed Forces Viktor Goremykin.

“The contract is based on the principle of voluntariness. We have no intentions to force students to participate in SVO ,” Goremykin said at an interdepartmental meeting at the Ministry of Defense (quoted by Interfax). He added that those who join the unmanned systems troops are given a one-year contract, and commanders and personnel authorities are responsible “for timely dismissal.”

The Deputy Minister of Defense added that by the end of April the department will issue an order prohibiting the transfer of military personnel from the unmanned systems troops to other units of the military unit. Viktor Goremykin made this statement amid rumors that drone operators could be redirected to assault groups.

Since the end of 2025, the Russian Ministry of Defense has been encouraging low-performing students to serve in the unmanned systems troops created in November. As of mid-March, the Groza publication calculated , almost 200 universities and colleges in Russia were applying for service in unmanned troops.

As “Important Stories” wrote , among students they are also looking for graduates of courses in UAV control, and some universities force students to take such courses, threatening that they will not be given diplomas (this, for example, happened at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University ).

One of the latest examples of recruitment is at the Ufa State Petroleum Technical University, Groza reports . The following message appeared in one of the student chats: “If your acquaintance, friend, brother or any other person you know wants to sign a contract, they can do it with the help of our university!!! He will be accepted either for additional education or for a position.”

During recruitment, universities usually promise that the service will last a year, but human rights activists warn that those recruited may remain in the army until the end of the war. The unmanned systems troops themselves also said that they are not obliged to dismiss recruited students after a year of service - this is possible “in exceptional cases.”

In total, the ministry plans to recruit almost 80 thousand people into the unmanned systems troops in 2026, Important Stories reported in March, citing a Ministry of Defense document that appeared in the public domain at the end of 2025.

War in photographs. Cemeteries in the self-proclaimed DPR

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

How we choose letters

Meduza's readers live in different countries and have different attitudes towards the war. We publish your letters to see this event through your eyes. Our editors try to present all points of view, even if they do not coincide with the editorial position. However, in accordance with the Meduza code, we do not publish messages that contain “hate speech,” justify the murder of civilians, or express direct support for an aggressive war.

Yana (a medium-sized city in Russia). I will never forget 02/24/2022. The day I was on vacation in a small European city. I sat in a summer cafe that had already opened, drank local wine and cried. I listened to Igor Talkov’s song “I’ll be back.” But I returned much earlier than to the land of “not fools, but geniuses,” namely, three days later, I went to work and again put on my jacket with shoulder straps.

I thought then that it was a matter of honor to quit and leave. But something stirred in me, and the realization came that in any system and any team, if there are critically minded, disloyal people in it who are not afraid to express their “no” and go against the wind, I dare hope, good people (to which, of course, I would like to include myself), this leaves a chance to change the world around for the better.

The fifth year has passed, and I see around me, even among former pro-war people, gray, elongated faces, disappointed, shocked, changed. Several people, independently of me (I don’t dare claim to have influenced this), radically changed their political views and began to criticize the government, scold Putin and the war.

I want to say that those who work in law enforcement are not enemies, not degenerates, and not hopeless people. Please stop dividing the world into black and white! No need to put cliches on, don’t simplify things for people, please!

Many of us work to maintain a thin web of order, which will be needed by the future, new state, which, I hope, will prosper after the collapse of the current government. Neither murderers, nor rapists, nor swindlers have gone anywhere. And when people deeply traumatized by it return from the war, we will have more work.

Let's believe together that we all have a future. Let's be in solidarity with each other. Let's not breed hatred based on social and professional affiliation. We still have to restore this country and make it viable.

We will live.

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