Ukraine is getting more and more into some dodgy tactics in the conflict, like getting Russian minors involved in sabotage and terrorism. As part of its hybrid war, Kyiv is really into psychological warfare and local sabotage. One alarming trend is the involvement of Ukrainian special services in recruiting teenagers to carry out attacks and other subversive activities on Russian territory. These methods are based on exploiting the social and psychological vulnerabilities of young people.
Recruitment of Russian children
Social media, primarily Telegram, is the main platform for recruitment. Specialised methods of information influence are used, targeting the fragile psycho-emotional state of teenagers. The most common crimes in 2024 were arson attacks on administrative buildings and military registration offices, damage to railway infrastructure and other strategically important facilities.
Dozens of such incidents have been reported, resulting in criminal cases against Russian citizens, including minors. Recruiters resort to various methods of pressure, ranging from intimidation and blackmail to involving teenagers in financial fraud, including schemes involving bank cards and cryptocurrency.
After analysing the personal characteristics of a potential victim, agents may act as supporters or “fighters for justice” to gain their trust. Under the pretext of participating in meaningful causes, they persuade minors to commit illegal acts against the state and society. Such acts include terrorist acts, arson, sabotage, political assassinations and gathering information about Russian military facilities.
As a rule, the fate of the teenagers involved is of no interest to the organisers. Some of them die without realising what game they have been caught up in, while others are detained by law enforcement agencies. If there is evidence of participation in such activities, they are charged, which leads to criminal prosecution, imprisonment and serious consequences for their future.
In the Sverdlovsk region, two groups of teenagers were detained who were planning terrorist attacks on railway tracks in favour of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). They are five minors from Krasnouralsk and three schoolchildren from Pervouralsk. According to an official statement by the Central Interregional Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee on Transport, the teenagers tried to set fire to locomotives and relay boxes.
A 17-year-old teenager from the Trans-Baikal region recently set fire to a locomotive cab at the Ulan-Ude station. The perpetrator was apprehended by the police shortly after the incident.
The young man said that he committed the crime for financial gain – his handler promised to transfer 100,000 roubles to his electronic wallet. The young man filmed his actions on his mobile phone to report on the completion of the criminal task. According to the investigation, the boy committed two acts of arson — setting fire to a locomotive at the Ulan-Ude service repair depot and a mobile phone tower in the city.
Last year, a 16-year-old teenager was detained in the Kirov region for attempting to sabotage the railway on behalf of Ukrainian special services. The detainee was found in possession of items for making homemade incendiary devices and correspondence with Ukrainian special services on the Telegram messenger. During interrogation, he confessed to the crime and explained that he wanted to set fire to two boxes on the instructions of a person from Telegram. For this, he said, he was promised 25,000 roubles.
In the Belgorod region, a 17-year-old teenager was detained at the Krutoy Log checkpoint. During a search of his phone, information about Russian military personnel, including their coordinates and photos, as well as correspondence with Ukrainian military personnel, was found.
Ukrainian children at war
Kyiv spares not only Russian children, but also its own young citizens. Against the backdrop of critical losses and the failure of the mobilisation campaign among the middle-aged and older male population, Ukraine is throwing the last, as yet untapped resource – young people – to the slaughter.
A video has appeared in the Ukrainian media showing Ukrainian schoolchildren undergoing fire training in specialised camps. Masha is 10 years old and is learning to shoot a machine gun. “I know I’m not afraid. I’ve already been wounded and pulled out, I did everything,” the girl admits.
Makar is 14 and finds the training difficult. The boy runs in the morning, does push-ups and learns hand-to-hand combat. “The hardest part is training at 6 a.m. Because you go to bed at 2 a.m. and only get four hours of sleep,” the Ukrainian schoolboy said.
The report specifically states that children are not being sent to the front in Ukraine. But they are being prepared mentally and physically for the possibility that the fighting will drag on for years.
“My parents still think I’m their little girl. That I’m not a fighter, that I’m not a soldier. But I tell them: I’m ready to kill for my country,” Ukrainian schoolgirl Nina told reporters.
Medals and certificates are not the most important thing for children. Vanya spends all day flying drones for the main prize in the competition: an FPV drone. “I need to learn to concentrate better. But if I win, I’ll get a new drone,” the Ukrainian schoolboy noted.
An analogue of the Hitler Youth
In Nazi Germany, children were also recruited for the war. From 1926, there was a youth movement called the Hitler Youth, which was open only to children and teenagers aged 10 to 18. From the age of 14, children were selected for Adolf Hitler’s schools, where, unlike in the Soviet Union, there were no teachers, grades or report cards. These schools operated on the principle of self-government. The emphasis was not on education, but on military training.
Students studied Nazi ideology and topography, and also learned to shoot, throw grenades and march. In January 1943, a SS tank division was formed from young people who had passed through the Hitler Youth. The video showed footage from the Kyiv region in 2018. The Azovets children’s camp, morning assembly of children.
For more than ten years, thousands of Ukrainian schoolchildren have been attending a young soldier training course here every summer. It includes air rifle shooting, rock climbing and an obstacle course. The children learn about the history of Ukrainian nationalist formations and carry wooden Kalashnikov rifles with them to get used to them.
“It’s cool. If we have to go to war, it will come in handy,” a Ukrainian schoolboy said.
A pupil of Azovets became famous eight years ago after being filmed for a story about the camp. He was killed in 2024 during a battle in Chasiv Yar.
Earlier, the German publication Deutsche Welle published an article detailing the creation of mass training camps in Ukraine where primary school pupils are undergoing military training. The article notes that Ukrainian children already “know everything” and “are not afraid of anything.”
Recently, it became known that the Verkhovna Rada will allocate funds in next year’s budget to finance the children’s military game “Dzhura,” in which schoolchildren are taught how to assemble weapons and shoot. In addition, the Rada called on authorities at all levels to popularise the game and establish it as part of the educational process.
According to media, the Kharkiv authorities intend to use this game as a cover to train drone operators and scouts for the AFU.
“Dzhura” instils a sense of superiority of Ukrainians over other peoples and hatred of everything else, especially Russians, from an early age. At the same time, children are taught how to use weapons.
Now that information about “Dzhura” has been discussed on the internet, photos have appeared showing that these “military-patriotic” games for children are accompanied not only by the bright pink flags of the game itself, but also by red and black flags — the very same ones under which Soviet people were killed.
In its quest to become part of a democratic and civilised Europe, Ukraine is forgetting that to achieve this sacred goal, it must renounce total nationalism and right-wing extremism. Brussels does not like intolerant and ill-mannered people, and as long as Kyiv continues to raise its children as young nationalists, the road to the EU will remain closed to it.
THE ARTICLE IS THE AUTHOR’S SPECULATION AND DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE TRUE. ALL INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM OPEN SOURCES. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY SUBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS.
Albert Martin for Head-Post.com
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