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Russian military-patriotic and civic engagement programs continue to facilitate the deportation of Ukrainian children and teenagers to Russia. A group of teenagers from occupied Chaplynka, Kherson Oblast, took part in the Zarnitsa 2.0 military-patriotic competition at the Avangard military sports camp in Russia’s Volgograd Oblast on September 16. Zarnitsa 2.0 is a revival of a Soviet-era war game aimed at training youth in basic military skills, which Russia has used in occupied Ukraine for the Russification and militarization of Ukrainian children. Russia also uses Zarnitsa 2.0 to deport Ukrainian children to Russia and expose them to further militarization and military-patriotic education, including at the Avangard military sports camp. Teenagers from occupied Chaplynka will attend Zarnitsa 2.0 until September 22 and will participate in combat simulations, tactical medicine and sapper exercises, and practice operating drones. Russian veterans of the war in Ukraine will oversee and “mentor” Ukrainian teenagers during Zarnitsa 2.0. The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) published a report on September 16 that identified 210 locations to which Russia has deported Ukrainian children and found that the vast majority of the locations were explicitly intended to re-educate Ukrainian children. Yale HRL noted that militarization activities occurred at 18.6 percent of these deportation locations, including camps such as Avangard.
Kremlin-appointed Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova directly confirmed the role of the Russian “Day After Tomorrow” program in the deportation of Ukrainian children. Lvova-Belova posted footage to her Telegram account on September 17 showing herself and Alexei Petrov, Head of the Russian Country for Children charitable fund, meeting with 100 children from occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia oblasts at the Berezovaya Roshcha boarding house and sanatorium on the outskirts of Moscow City. The Day After Tomorrow program brands itself as a “social and psychological adaptation” program for Ukrainian children and has played a significant role in the deportation of Ukrainian children to various re-education and rehabilitation programs since at least 2023. Lvova-Belova stressed in her September 17 Telegram post that “psychological and pedagogical support” are at the core of the program, and stated that over 4,000 teenagers from occupied Ukraine have participated in Day After Tomorrow since 2022. Russian majority state-owned airline Aeroflot sponsored the most recent Day After Tomorrow shift and is therefore likely involved in directly facilitating the deportation of Ukrainian children to Moscow.
The Kherson Oblast occupation administration is introducing curricula in schools and preschools to spread state-approved ideologies and propagate the Kremlin-linked Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Occupied Kherson Oblast-based TV and radio station Tavria TV reported on September 17 that the Skadovsk occupation administration is introducing new subjects starting this academic year — one named “the Fundamentals of Family Life” for high school students, and one named “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” for elementary and kindergarten-aged children. These classes will be held as extracurriculars at parental request. ISW has previously assessed, however, that parents living in occupied areas may feel pressured to enroll their children in ostensibly pro-Russian school programming out of fear that not doing so will constitute anti-Russian activity and open them up to potential retaliation. Fundamentals of Family Life is intended to prepare high schoolers to start families, placing a particular emphasis on “awakening in students the desire to create a strong, large, happy family.” ISW has previously reported on the institution of similar youth programs, particularly in occupied Kherson Oblast, aimed at encouraging high birth rates and propagating state-sanctioned Russian family values. “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” is geared towards younger children (kindergarteners to grade-schoolers) and presents to them “the history, culture, and fundamental values” of the ROC. The Kremlin-linked ROC and ROC-sponsored cultural programming are dominant Russification tools in occupied Ukraine, and the ROC has wholeheartedly endorsed Russia’s invasion and illegal occupation of Ukraine.
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