Irina lived with her two children under Russian occupation for three years. And because she did not want to get a Russian passport and her children to go to a Russian school, she fled with them from the Russian-occupied southern parts of Ukraine to her sister in Western Ukraine. The German public media ARD tells their story.
Olena is 10 years old. The child remembers how in the Russian school they sang songs about Russia – “How good Russia is, the best in the world, and how it will liberate all cities from the Ukrainian occupation.“
Olena and Irina are not their real names, but the editorial office is keeping them secret to protect them from repression. The Russians asked Irina why her children were not at school and why she did not have a Russian passport. They threatened her that if they did not get passports immediately, the children would not go to school from September, the mother recalls. "They wanted to take my children away and send them to a boarding school in Russia," she told the German publication. Representatives of the Russian authorities came four times, and the children had to hide from them, it is clear from her words.
Systematic Russification
The organization „Save Ukraine“, which helps Ukrainians living under Russian occupation, knows that this case is not isolated. Ukrainians there are being systematically Russified, for which the occupation authorities use various tools, says Anastasia Kartasheva from „Save Ukraine“: „On the one hand, pressure is exerted on the parents, they are blackmailed. They are trying to force people to accept Russian passports. They threaten them that otherwise they will take away their children“, the activist told ARD.
Irina initially resisted, but the fear of losing parental rights over her own children prevailed and she eventually applied for a Russian passport. She had to swear allegiance to the Russian Federation and send her children to a Russian school.
"You have 24 hours to get out of here"
Lesya is a teacher in the resort town of Truskavets in western Ukraine. In her free time, she sews camouflage nets for the Ukrainian army. She teaches her students in the occupied Melitopol in southern Ukraine, where she fled, online.
Lesya remembers how the Russians first offered the locals to cooperate with the authorities, but when it became clear that there was no desire to introduce the Russian curriculum, they threatened them that they might have to move out. When the Russians came to the school for the third time, they simply issued an ultimatum: “You have 24 hours to get out of here.“
Lesya fled. She understood perfectly well that for the Russian occupiers, school is a major means of propaganda. She remembers perfectly how Russian soldiers entered Melitopol with new textbooks, she told ARD. Since then, the war against Ukraine has also been waged in schools. And what it means to study in a Russian school, she describes it this way:
“Every day they play the Russian anthem, write letters to soldiers and talk about Putin. They are bringing back with full force the structures and orders of Soviet times - pioneer organizations, “Victory Day“ and so on. In 2022, they were very insistent that schools in the occupied territories reopen quickly“, the teacher points out.
Potential recruitment for the Russian army
In the occupied territories, everything Ukrainian is disappearing: the language, literature and history are being replaced by the Russian language, Russian literature and Russian falsification of history. They send soldiers to attend classes and establish dozens of youth organizations in schools.
The goal is to raise young people loyal to the Russian regime, says Olesya Bida, a journalist for the Kyiv Independent, an online publication in Kiev. “Huge resources are being spent to break these children. They are sent to camps where they are in a completely different environment - everything is there to change them.“
Experts warn that reeducated Ukrainian children are potential recruits for the Russian army. According to estimates by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education, up to 1.5 million minors are still living under Russian occupation.
By the way, Irina decided to flee because her son had recently received a draft notice for military service in the Russian army after turning 17.
Author: Rebecca Bart ARD