Author

Almenda

29.07.2023

Alarm bells of education in occupation. July 13 – July 26

1. Simplified system of admission to institutions of higher education in the occupied territories; statistics of children’s mutilations and damage to educational institutions; the expansion of the influence of youth movements.
2. Territories, which have been occupied since 2014. Taking children to camps, militarized summer:
3. The newly occupied territories after February 24, 2022.

Simplified system of admission to institutions of higher education in the occupied territories; statistics of children’s mutilations and damage to educational institutions; the expansion of the influence of youth movements.

• During the period from July 13 to July 26, Russia destroyed 21 educational institutions throughout the territory of Ukraine, 11 of which were damaged as a result of a massive missile attack on Odessa on the night of July 23. As a result of the air attacks, 19 children were maimed and 3 were killed (according to the statistical data of CCE “Almenda” collected from open sources).
• Universities in the occupied territories offer a simplified admission system based only on the results of internal exams to the enrollees from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Distance learning is also provided. This is reported by the admission commissions of the so-called “SevSU”, “Azov Pedagogical University” in Berdyansk, “Kherson State Pedagogical University” and others.
• The Russian Movement of Children and Youth will be able to create its primary branches in institutions of higher education. The corresponding law was signed by the President of the Russian Federation – Vladimir Putin.

Territories, which have been occupied since 2014. Taking children to camps, militarized summer:

Donetsk region

• On July 17, 200 children from Volnovakha and 560 children from Yasynuvate will be sent to recreation camps on the shores of the Black Sea. This retreat is sponsored by the Chelyabinsk region.
• Children from Donetsk region were sent to the military-patriotic camp “Remembrance Watch. Rzhev – Far East”. For two weeks, 60 children studied search operations, learned how to handle special equipment, went to excavations at the sites of battles that took place in Rzhev in 1942-1943. This year, a camp session was dedicated to the so-called “Special Military Operation”, and classes on the initial military training and tactical medicine were conducted for children by servicemen – participants of the “Special Military Operation”.
• The Russians took up to 80 high school students from the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk region to the military academy in Kostroma (Russian Federation). The abducted children are now undergoing “military training” at the training ground of the Military Academy of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense and Engineer Forces named after the USSR Marshal Semyon Timoshenko, which is located in Kostroma region in the Russian Federation.
• A military-patriotic training “Young paratrooper” was organized in Pskov for children from Donetsk military-patriotic movement “Young Guard – Young Army”. Three more such sessions will take place by the end of the summer. 200 members of “Young Army” from Donetsk, Mariupol, Shakhtarska and other cities of the republic will attend them.

Luhansk region

• Children from the occupied Luhansk region took part in military-patriotic training in Podilsk. It was organized in two sessions: from July 4 to July 8 and from July 8 to July 12. 12 master classes on various types of training of the armed forces of the Russian Federation were held for children: formation drill, tactical and physical training. In addition, there were stands of the “Young Army movement” at the event, which contained the description of the movement.
• During July, the Russian took about 280 children from Antratsyt Raion to the “Cossacks cadet corps” in the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation. By the end of the summer, the occupiers plan to relocate a total of about 500 Ukrainian children.

Crimea

• Yaroslav Kuznetsov from Sevastopol became one of the winners of the singing contest “Long live Russia!”
• Cadets from the military unit of the so-called “Crimea Federal University” took an oath of loyalty to the “Fatherland” (namely Russia)

• On July 4, members of Movement of the First in the city of Sudak visited the exhibition of photographs by the military correspondent of the RIA Novosti (RIA News) Dmitry Makeyev called “Through the eyes of truth”, dedicated to the “Special Military Operation”.

• The military-patriotic game “Zarnitsa 2.0” was held in the children’s center “Artek” with the support of the “Movement of the First” and the Russian union “Znaniye” (“Knowledge”).
• In the military-field camp in Mykolaivka, children from Crimea, as well as from Kherson region, live in tents and study fire training, self-defense and tactical medicine. Such trainings are called “Crimean frontier”. As of July 24, there were already 6 sessions. By the end of August, it is planned to hold 11 sessions and host more than 600 children. 

• In the period from July 10 to July 15, 2023, members of “Young Army” took part in military-patriotic field training “Cadet paratroopers” in Krasnohvardiiske Raion of Crimea. Regional branches of “Young Army” from Kherson region were also present at the training. 

• 16 children who have reached the age of 14 received passports of the Russian Federation at the ceremony at the “Artek” children’s center. 
• Join training on military-tactical training and marine engineering was held for cabin boys of the Center and “Young Army” members, trainees and cadets of the local branch of DOSAAF of the city of Yalta. 
• As a part of the “Young Army summer-2023” project implemented by the DOSAAF of Russia, a festival of applied military sports “OUR MEMORY DOES NOT GO TO “RESERVE!”, dedicated to the Day of War Veterans in Russia, was held on the territory of the “Nadia” park-hotel, located in Simferopol Raion. Memders of the regional branch of “YoungArmy”, the cadets of DOSAAF of Russia, took part in the festival.
• On July 25, children in children’s camp “Alyie Parusa” were shown a weapons exhibition.

The newly occupied territories after February 24, 2022.

The temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region. New methods of passporting – fingerprinting of young children; admission campaign – children from the occupied regions enroll Russian institutions of higher education; lectures of the history of Novorossiya for residents of Energodar.

• Students of Melitopol university were given an opportunity to take part in the student tourism program, which involves trips to the different parts of the Russian Federation for “cultural and professional exchange”.
• While conducting a forced passporting of parents, the invaders demand that children from the age of 6 should mandatorily have their fingerprints provided. 
• In Tokmak, the Russians opened a military hospital in the building of kindergarten.
• Members of the “Movement of the First” were taken to the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology, as a part of the “University sessions” program.
• On July 16, members of the “Movement of the First” took part in the All-Russian project “Keepers of History”. The event was opened with singing the anthem of Russia and the raising of the flag.
• On July 17, members of the “Movement of the First” organized an entertainment program for children at the temporary accommodation facility. In the opinion of the occupiers, the entertainment program is dances and quizzes dedicated to Russia.
• Enrollees of the so-called “Sevastopol State University” from Energodar were given a lesson on the history of “Novorossiya” by the representatives of the “Znaniye” union. As media of the occupied university writes, “boys and girst learned how and why Novorossia and Crimea joined Russia in the second half of the XVIII century.” 
• 45 enrollees from Energodar prepare to enroll in the so-called “SevSU”, most of them apply to the Institute of Nuclear Energy and Production. 
• One of the recreation camps in the Crimean city of Saky will host 500 children from Zaporizhzhia region. 
• On July 19, children from Melitopol Raion, who stay in the “Laspy” children’s camp, took part in the military-patriotic program, “School of future commanders”. The description of the project on the web page of Sevastopol branch of “Young Army”: “The “School of future commanders” project by the regional branch of the All-Russian Military-Patriotic Movement “Young Army” in the city of Sevastopol, will give children the opportunity to learn the history of Russia, gain theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary for service in the army, develop their leadership qualities, learn to navigate and make decisions in difficult situations, work in team, and develop a conscious readiness to defend their Fatherland”.
• Children from Zaporizhzhia region were taken on an excursion to Veliky Novgorod. 
• 27 children from Berdyansk were taken to rehabilitation to the camps in Tver region. 
• In Zaporizhzhia region, young people were involved in the campaign “We don’t leave our people behind” in support of the servicemen of the “Special Military Operation”. Activists of the “Young Guard” branch and the “Yug Molodoi” (“Young South”) movement unfurled the 15-meter-long St. George’s Ribbon. 

The temporarily occupied part of Kherson region. “A Wonderful World of Drones” for children with disabilities; regions of Russia, which took control over the newly occupied territories and sponsor the deportation of Ukrainian children; Military-sports games in recreation camps. 

• In Henichesk Raion, the occupiers began the forced relocation to the Russian federation of those Ukrainian citizens, who did not receive or refused to receive passports of the Russian Federation, including families with children and elderly people. Their places of living are being occupied by the representatives of national minorities from the low-income strata of the population of the Russian Federation, – according to the General Staff.
• Representatives of the Aeroclub held classes on using drones for children with disabilities from the orphanage “Nadiya”. Pay attention to how occupier present this news: “Children from the orphanage “Nadiya” received a unique opportunity to grasp the world of drones…”

• The participants of the so-called “Special Military Operation”, servicemen from the 33^rd detachment named after Margelov, conducted classes on military training and shooting for members of “Young Army” from Kherson region. 

• Children from Kalanchak Raion are being sent to “rehabilitation” camps in Mordovia. Currently, 100 children are known to have been deported. Also, the representatives of the chief-region (such is Mordovia for the occupied territory) import books in Russian language (more than 900 copies have been imported) and carry out re-training of educators. 
• The Russian union “Znaniye” (“Knowledge”) held a two-day forum on the heroes of the World War II times for the residents of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, among the participants of the forum there were children too. 
• Pupils of the Palace of Children’s and Youth Creativity were invited to participate in the military-sports game “Pobeda” (“Victory”). 
• 160 children from Kherson region are sent to the camps in Crimea with the financial support of Kaliningrad region. 

The publication was prepared by the “Centre of civil education “Almenda” as part of the “Ruined Childhood: Approaching Justice” project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the NGO “Centre of civil education “Almenda” and does not necessarily reflect the position of Civil Rights Defenders.