Ukrainian children from territories occupied by Russian forces have reportedly been sent to Kremlin-supported military boot camps, where they are being trained to fight against their own country, according to a troubling new report.
Footage aired on Moscow’s OTR channel showed Ukrainian teenagers assembling and firing Kalashnikov assault rifles at a camp in the Volgograd region of southern Russia.
According to The Times, around 330 Ukrainian children are currently undergoing training at this facility.
The disturbing footage revealed children receiving instruction in weaponry and drone operation from a masked instructor, with the Russian flag and a portrait of President Vladimir Putin prominently displayed in the background.
The video included an endorsement from a Ukrainian girl praising her instructors, all of whom have combat experience fighting against Ukrainian forces.
“They can really teach you something here,” said the 16-year-old from the Kherson region as she learned to fly a drone.
It is unclear whether the girl’s statement was made voluntarily or under duress. A girl matching her name, age, and region is listed in the Ukrainian government’s Children of War database.
According to OTR, a state-controlled media outlet, the Ukrainian children at the camp come from the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The camp is typically attended by Russian children aged 14 to 17 and is reportedly operated by the Moscow organization Voin, established under Putin’s directive to cultivate “a new generation of patriots who love their motherland”.
Similar military camps in Tyumen and Kalmykia have also reportedly received dozens of Ukrainian teens. Since 2022, hundreds of other Ukrainian children have been sent to Chechnya for military training through a separate program.
Ukrainian officials have raised alarms about this development, recalling previous reports of abducted children being sent to Russian “re-education” camps, where they allegedly endure physical and sexual abuse while being indoctrinated with Russian propaganda.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s top human rights official, has accused Moscow of running a nationwide brainwashing program aimed at turning Ukrainian children into “full-fledged soldiers” who may eventually fight against their own country.
“The Kremlin is forcibly forming a generation of Ukrainian children that is taught hatred and violence against everything Ukrainian,” Lubinets told the Times.
Both President Putin and the Kremlin’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, have been charged by the International Criminal Court with war crimes related to the abduction of Ukrainian children.
Russia has denied these allegations but has admitted to taking in more than 700,000 Ukrainian children from occupied territories since the conflict began.
