Teenagers in Russian-occupied parts of the Donetsk region are being enrolled in military-style training programs that include weapons handling, basic tactics and drone operation, according to Ukraine’s Center of National Resistance (CNR).
The sessions, held inside educational institutions and presented as youth development initiatives, mirror elements of pre-combat preparation and extend beyond civilian curricula. The programs appear coordinated across multiple colleges and target students as young as 15, the CNR said.
The latest report mirrors patterns seen in the occupied parts of the Zaporizhzhia region, where teenagers were rallied to join Russia’s Yunarmiya – the All-Russian Military Patriotic Social Movement “Young Army” – and receive military training.
Militarized training in educational institutions
According to the CNR, occupation authorities have introduced military-technical sessions at the Donetsk Mining and Electromechanical College, where students practice applying tourniquets, assembling and disassembling weapons, handling mock assault rifles and operating drones.
Local officials publicly frame the effort as a “youth development” project supported by Russia’s Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodyozh), though the scope and methods resemble regimented pre-military instruction.
The CNR, citing its sources, said similar training is underway in at least eight colleges in the occupied regions. In some cases, supervisors were told to “form the core of future instructors” from the most disciplined students, the sources added.
Long-term mobilization reserve
CNR analysts said the programs are part of a broader effort to militarize adolescents aged 15 to 17 and create a long-term mobilization reserve for the occupying administration.
By relying on pseudo-civic formations such as “druzhinniki” (a medieval Slavic term for a warrior or retainer), the occupiers can channel political indoctrination into educational institutions without formally assuming responsibility for the militarized curriculum, the CNR wrote.
Under the guise of voluntary structures, students are exposed to weapons, strict discipline and rhetoric centered on an “internal front,” normalizing a wartime environment, it added.
Systemic control over children under occupation
The report concludes that in occupied regions, the educational system is being repurposed to prepare youths for security operations under the occupation authorities.
The CNR described these activities as systemic, non-voluntary, and designed to embed militarization into the region’s long-term governance strategy.
Ukrainian intelligence also says Russia has expanded its “Zemsky Uchitel” (“Rural Teacher”) program into occupied territories, bringing in teachers from Russia who receive double compensation. According to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR), the aim is to impose Russian narratives and establish a controlled educational environment for children living under occupation.
These measures sit alongside broader abuses against children, including the illegal removal of minors from the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukrainian officials cite cases involving forced transfers of guardianship to Russian citizens and the relocation of abducted children across Russian-controlled territory.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for HUR, has described these deportations as “one of Russia’s largest war crimes.” The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in 2023 for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, specifically over the forced deportation of Ukrainian minors.