Ukrainian children being trained for military purposes by Russian officers in camps in occupied territories: new investigation reveals
High-ranking Russian officers run military training programs for Ukrainian children in the occupied territories and oversee a youth militarization scheme, a journalistic investigation has found.
Russian officers train Ukrainian children in military camps in the occupied territories PHOTO Shutterstock
The programs are organized by the Center “Warrior for Military and Patriotic Education” — a network created in 2022 on the direct orders of Vladimir Putin.
An investigation by the Kyiv Independent revealed that Ukrainian teenagers from the occupied parts of Kherson, Zaporozhye, Luhansk and Donetsk regions are undergoing military training conducted by the Center “Warrior for Military and Patriotic Education” — a network created in 2022 on the direct orders of Vladimir Putin.
“Time of Young Heroes”
The center places teenagers in designated military camps “Time of Young Heroes”one of which has the explicit purpose of preparing young people for service in the Armed Forces of Russia. In the camps, Ukrainian children are subjected to severe discipline and combat-type drills. They are trained to operate drones, dig trenches, plant and defuse mines, as well as use grenades and firearms.
In a testimony to the Kyiv Independent, Oksana, a girl from southern Ukraine who went through the training in 2024 when she was 16, recounted the experience. Her name has been changed for her protection.
The investigation also identified the center's management structure. The head of the supervisory board of the Warrior Center is Viktor Vodolatsky, deputy of the Russian State Duma, holder of a medal for what Russia calls “release” Crimea and Sevastopol. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Vodolatsky has visited occupied eastern Ukraine, inspected Russian-installed administrations, and publicly called for the destruction of Ukraine's Armed Forces.
His deputy and the commander of the Warrior Center, Andranik Gasparian, is a colonel in the Russian Armed Forces and a veteran of the wars in Chechnya, Syria and Crimea. He received two Orders of Courage and previously commanded the 126th Coastal Defense Brigade of Russia. From the first days of the invasion, his unit participated in the occupation of southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian prosecutors issued indictments in absentia against Gasparian's subordinates for war crimes, including beatings, kidnappings, killings of civilians, mock executions and the rape of a minor.
Ukrainian children, coached by Russian veterans
The Kyiv Independent identified at least 25 Warrior Center instructors who directly trained Ukrainian children in Volgograd. Most participated in Russia's war against Ukraine.
The Volgograd branch of the Warrior Center is led by Igor Vorobiov, a former lieutenant colonel in Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service who spent 20 years in the system before volunteering to fight in Ukraine in 2022.
One of the instructors is Igor Sokov, a former Wagner Group fighter who participated in the battles for the now-occupied towns of Soledar and Popasna in Donetsk. Sokov was awarded the Order of Courage and a Star of Military Merit from the Central African Republic. He now teaches radio communications to children in the occupied territories.
One of them, Anatoly Yushko from Donetsk, was still a schoolboy when Russia invaded in 2014. Yushko went through Russian indoctrination programs and joined the Youth Army (Yunarmiya), Russia's military-patriotic movement for children and teenagers.
At 19, he volunteered to fight in the invasion of Ukraine, taking part in the occupation of parts of the Zaporozhye region. After demobilization, he started training children at the Warrior Center.
In 2024 alone, 1,290 Ukrainian children from the occupied territories went through militarization programs run by the Warrior Center in Volgograd.
