Russian textbooks, cadet classes and youth militia: the state of schools in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories
The Russian curriculum is being imposed on almost 2,000 schools in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories, shaping the education of over 582,000 children.
Source: Tetiana Lychko, a data coordinator at the Almenda Centre of Civil Education, during the presentation of a research report titled "Russia's Policy on the Erasure of Children's Identity in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine in 2025" at the Media Center Ukraine
Details: The Russian authorities are accelerating the militarisation of education and incorporating military personnel and church representatives into both the curriculum and extracurricular activities. Schools are introducing new subjects that emphasise "patriotic" indoctrination and cultivate loyalty to the Russian state ideology.
"All Ukrainian children are being denied the right to choose," Lychko said. "They cannot select the language of instruction or the curriculum they follow. At the same time, they live in constant fear of being penalised if they do not attend Russian schools and punished under the anti-extremism laws."
Lychko warned that since 2025, Russia has been imposing distorted historical narratives on schoolchildren. The textbooks used to teach Russian and world history promote the "distinctiveness of Russian civilisation" and the "rejection of Eurocentrism". They are now in use across all the temporarily occupied territories for students in grades 5-11 (aged roughly 9 to 16).
The curriculum now devotes more hours to history, including a new "History of the Region" module in which children are told that the occupied territories were an "integral part of the Russian Empire" and their ties to Ukraine are deliberately erased.
Children are also subjected to separate hours of "Conversations about Important Things" (a compulsory school subject in Russia that presents the government's official line on various topics) with the aim of enforcing Russification. Music and films are also used to instil a love of Russia.
In addition, starting from 15 December 2025, Ukrainian language as a subject has been entirely removed from the curriculum under federal educational standards.
The Almenda Centre of Civil Education has also documented increased militarisation in education. All schools in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories have received equipment for practical lessons in "Fundamentals of Security and Defence of the Motherland" and "Technology" – dummy Kalashnikov rifles, first-person view (FPV) drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles. Russia has allocated around RUB 139 million (US$1.8 million) from federal and state budgets for this purpose.
Military personnel and veterans of the "special military operation" (as Russian propagandists call the war against Ukraine) are being integrated into the educational process. Lychko said children are encouraged to see them as mentors and role models.
The authorities in occupied Crimea and Sevastopol have introduced a new subject, "Spiritual and Moral Culture of Russia", which church representatives are involved in teaching. It will be mandatory in all schools throughout the temporarily occupied territories from the next academic year onwards.
"This has been introduced to instil traditional Russian values in children, where service to the state is placed above human rights," Lychko emphasised.
She added that the number of cadet classes in Russian-occupied Crimea has grown 102-fold in ten years – from just three in 2015 to 306 in 2025.
As of 2025, at least 479 cadet classes have been established under the patronage of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, prosecution authorities and other security services.
The Russian leadership continues to actively recruit children and young people into Yunarmiya (Young Army), a youth programme promoting loyalty to the state through military-style activities. At present, over two million children are members, including 44,000 from the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Russia allocates substantial funding to Yunarmiya. In 2025, the federal budget earmarked nearly RUB 1 billion (US$10 million) for the programme, rising to RUB 1.25 billion (US$16 million) in 2026.
Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!