Militarization, Persecution, and the Threat of Forced Conscription: What Students Face in the Temporarily Occupied Territories

For children and youth living in the temporarily occupied territories, education has long ceased to be just about learning. Every day, they face the militarization of the educational process, the imposition of russian identity, persecution for pro-Ukrainian views, and the threat of forced conscription after reaching adulthood.

Enrolling in a Ukrainian educational institution is an opportunity to continue studying in a safe environment, receive quality education, maintain a connection with Ukraine, and make independent choices about their future.

Below, we have collected testimonies from young people, teachers, and graduates who experienced the occupation and shared what children in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) face daily. All names of the people featured have been changed for security reasons.

Would you like to learn more about admission from the TOT to Ukrainian educational institutions, the necessary documents, and available educational opportunities? Call the East SOS hotline: 0 800 332 614.

We also provide consultations via messengers:
+38 068 827 2895 (Telegram)
+38 095 374 82 70 (Viber)
Email: [email protected].

Useful links on admission from the TOT:

• contact details and materials on admission, support during and after leaving the TOT: https://linktr.ee/vstup_tot;
  
• landing page with detailed information on admission: https://www.osvita-tot.com/.

• Forced involvement in russia’s military system

Young people living in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories face the threat of being involved in military service after reaching conscription age. The occupation authorities introduce military patriotic educational programs and register teenagers for military purposes. Under russian legislation, after obtaining russian documents and reaching the required age, young men may be subject to conscription. Such practices create a real threat of Ukrainian citizens being used in the armed forces of the occupying state.

“Mobilization started when I was in my first year of university. I was 17 at the time, and the boys were 18. On February 18, 2022, mobilization was announced in our area. Everyone who was at the university – first-, second-, and third-year students – was being pressured to join the army. Those who were 18 and fit for service were told to come to the dean’s office and receive draft notices. Those who came were taken away to war, and many people from my course, from the first year, were mobilized while I was studying there,” – Vitalii, Donetsk Oblast.

“Regarding the army: everyone who turns 16 is registered for military service, and at 18 they undergo another medical examination. If you are not studying anywhere, you can be mobilized for a year. They put pressure on you in every possible way and offer you to sign a contract. In some cases, which are not that rare, they can even make you sign a contract disguised as a safety acknowledgment form. I have a condition that should make me unfit for conscription – I have kidney disease,” – Viktor, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

“I was issued three draft notices. I registered for military service at the age of 16, and I was told to come back a year later. But I did not come, and then they started bringing draft notices to my home. I simply ignored them, and they did not look for me until 2023. Some of the notices said that if I failed to appear, I would face criminal charges,” – Oleh, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

“They tried to forcibly recruit me when I turned 18. Military enlistment office representatives came to my home, knocked on the door, came with the police, and told me that if I did not go to their enlistment office, they would press criminal charges,” – Anatolii, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

• Militarization and the displacement of Ukraine’s education system

The militarization of education in the temporarily occupied territories is accompanied by the systematic displacement of Ukraine’s education system and its replacement with russian standards. The occupation authorities have rewritten curricula, removed Ukrainian content from education, and introduced russian textbooks, symbols, and ideological practices. Increasingly, the education system is being used as a tool to cultivate loyalty to the occupying state and promote military-patriotic narratives among children.

“In 2018, when I was in the 10th grade, they started introducing the ‘Yunarmiya’ (‘Young Army’) system. It was all about heavily militarized education – encouraging students to eventually join the russian army. Even students who were members of the ‘Young Guard’ came to school wearing special uniforms with red berets. They were regularly involved in various events, such as laying flowers at memorials and participating in celebrations on May 1 and May 9, for instance. And after the start of the full-scale invasion, education became even more militarized,” – Mykola, Luhansk Oblast.

“The occupation authorities held individual meetings with school principals. They assured them that there was no need to teach history, only to assign grades, and that Ukrainian literature was of no importance at all. Ukrainian language classes remained temporarily, but russian was presented as the main language. In the spring of 2022, they began collecting information about children to issue them russian-style school certificates,” – Nataliia, Buhaivka, Vovchansk hromada (community).

“This is how it happened. russian military personnel came to our school (editor’s note: to conduct the Conversations About Important Things lessons), and they said, ‘You know that when you turn 18, you’ll have to serve in the russian army? So get ready to serve and start thinking about what kind of military service you want,’” – Anatolii, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

• Persecution for pro-Ukrainian views and studying in Ukrainian schools

In the temporarily occupied territories, expressing pro-Ukrainian views may lead to intimidation, harassment, and other forms of persecution by the occupation authorities. Children and their families are particularly vulnerable, facing interrogations, threats, and other forms of pressure because of their beliefs or actions.

“Last year, a boy and a girl were studying at school remotely (editor’s note: a Ukrainian online school). They were very hardworking. Then their mother contacted the class teacher and said they were terrified. She explained that the children would no longer be studying at the online school because the school in the TOT, which follows russian standards, had found out about it. The principal of Semenivka School (editor’s note: Melitopol Raion, Zaporizhzhia Oblast) reported them to the russian security services. The children’s father was detained, taken to a quarry, had a plastic bag placed over his head, and water poured into it – he was tortured. After that, the family submitted a request to withdraw the children from the school,” – Natalia, Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

“Yes, I was studying there remotely, and then in the 11th grade the [occupation] authorities became fully engaged. The head of it started going door to door with military personnel, forcing minors who had not yet finished school to obtain russian passports and attend school. They said that if you (editor’s note: the students) did not study, you would be sent to a boarding school somewhere,” – Kateryna, Kherson Oblast.

“When I applied to university, I was wearing a blue-and-yellow bracelet. One of the admissions staff noticed it and asked whether it reflected my political views. I said no, that it was just a bracelet. He replied, ‘With views like that, you might as well not apply here.’ Later, the dean also called me because my Telegram status included a line from a poem by Volodymyr Sosiura: ‘… love [our Ukraine], as the sun love her, as the wind, the grass, the waters.’ He asked me what it meant and why I had posted it. I told him I simply liked the line,” – Vitalii, Donetsk Oblast.

The occupying state’s policy toward children in the temporarily occupied territories is comprehensive in scope. It combines the militarization of education, the displacement of Ukraine’s education system, persecution for pro-Ukrainian views and creates preconditions for children’s future involvement in the military system of the russian federation.

These practices are aimed at weakening Ukrainian national identity and integrating children into russia’s political, educational, and military space. They pose long-term risks to children’s right to education, freedom of thought and expression, and the preservation of their cultural and national identity.

This material was prepared as part of the project “Protection and Psychosocial Services for People with Limited Mobility and Persons with Disabilities Affected by the War”, implemented with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). It is based on the testimonies collected by the East SOS documentation team since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.