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Russia is continuing its efforts to Russify and militarize schools in occupied territories of Ukraine through the forced institution of pro-Russian patriotic education. Sevastopol occupation governor Mykhail Razhozahev claimed on September 4 that each student in occupied Sevastopol from grades one to 11 received a unique “diary of a Sevastopol schoolchild.” The diaries are themed to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Russia’s “victory in the Great Patriotic War” (World War II). Crimean Tatar Resource Center (CTRC) reported that these “propaganda diaries” are another example of Russian efforts to brainwash children with pro-Russian materials in occupied territories of Ukraine. A Berdyansk-based Ukrainian partisan group posted a statement from a Berdyansk resident on September 3, which reported that “there is not even a hint of anything Ukrainian in schools.” The resident wrote that the “machine of destruction of Ukrainian identity” is effective due to a lack of open resistance in Berdyansk, and noted that people are not resisting due to an intense climate of fear of the occupation regime.
Russia continues efforts to institutionalize the militarization and indoctrination of Ukrainian children via the construction of Voin (Warrior) military-patriotic training camps. Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Head Denis Pushilin claimed on September 4 that the Russian occupation administration is building the Voin Center for Military Sports Training and Patriotic Education of Youth in occupied Donetsk Oblast. ISW previously reported on the construction of the Voin camp in occupied Mariupol in March 2025. Construction on the Voin camp will be completed in 2026 and will include a “modern tactical house,” an outdoor “playground” for training with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), a gym with professional equipment, a helicopter training tower, and a “shooting gallery.” The training complex will also teach children tactical medicine. Pushilin stated that the camp will educate children in “patriotic values” and nurture “love for the Motherland.” The occupied Donetsk Oblast-based Voin camp will be the fourth Voin camp in occupied Ukraine, with other bases in Henichesk, Kherson Oblast, Berdyansk, Zaporizhia Oblast, and Luhansk City, Luhansk Oblast.
Russia is preparing another round of illegal gubernatorial elections in occupied Crimea in an effort to further cement the supremacy of the leading United Russia party in occupied Ukraine. Russia’s annual single voting day will take place on September 14, and voting in many Russian regions will take place on September 12, 13, and 14. Crimea is the only occupied Ukrainian region in which elections will take place for the September 14 single voting day, with a gubernatorial election scheduled in occupied Sevastopol. Five candidates are running for the position of occupation governor of Sevastopol: Ilya Zhuravlev (Russian Liberal Democratic Party), Sergei Kruglov (A Just Russia Party), Gennady Kushnir (Russian Communist Party), Irina Salina (Russian New People Party), and incumbent Mikhail Razvozhaev (United Russia Party). Razvozhaev is likely to once again secure the position. The Crimean Tatar Resource Center (CTRC) noted that the formal registration of candidates in the Sevastopol gubernatorial election is “purely technical” because Razvozhaev’s and United Russia’s victory is practically assured.
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