Investigators cite pamphlet given to detained Ukrainian children as evidence of Russia’s militarization

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Ukrainian children being held in detention centres in Russian-occupied territory are being told how to behave around the former Russian soldiers who guard them, evidence of Moscow’s program to militarize the children, investigators say.

A pamphlet distributed to the children warns them not to “provoke the hero!” and says that every word they say could be “the last peaceful word of the day.” It instructs them not to sneak up on the soldiers from behind, as it could “trigger combat memories,” and warns them to keep hands visible and to avoid speaking foreign languages.

“If he shouts – do not argue, hide and wait,” the pamphlet says. “Don’t complain about heat, hunger or fatigue – unlike civilians, the hero knows what ‘hard’ really means,” it says. “Politeness saves lives – a smile to a counsellor is not weakness.” (The former Russian soldiers are referred to as counsellors.)

Carney accuses Putin of abducting thousands of Ukrainian children

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Since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, Russia has abducted Ukrainian children, taking them to facilities across Russia and occupied territory in Ukraine, and it is preparing them to fight against their own country. Children between the ages of 8 and 17 are said to be in these military camps.

The pamphlet was shared with The Globe and Mail by Hala Systems, a Lisbon-based technology company that uses AI to analyze open-source evidence about the detention centres where tens of thousands of Ukrainian children are being held. The bright yellow pamphlet with capitalized red instructions, had been distributed to children in the Strana Geroev (Country of Heroes) camp, which is located in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Hala Systems said in an analysis of the pamphlet that the presence of Russian soldiers who fought in Russia’s war against Ukraine was being used “to instill in children a perception of war as heroic and violence as a form of patriotic service.” The camp, according to Hala Systems, is one of Russia’s projects for the “patriotic upbringing” of children, which includes Ukrainian children who have been taken there. It’s supported by Russian state entities, the analysis said.

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Ashley Jordana, the director of law, policy and human rights at Hala Systems, said there have been reports indicating that people who worked at these camps had ties to Russia’s security services or had military backgrounds, but before the pamphlet was obtained, it wasn’t clear that those who served in Russia’s war against Ukraine were working as camp counsellors.

Ms. Jordana said part of the pamphlet’s objective is to tell children how to behave, but that it also points to a broader strategy, which is a “hybrid militarization mechanism that is being disguised as patriotic education.”

“The narrative in Ukraine has very much been focused on deportation and the forceful transfer of children and I think what’s been left behind a little bit is the exploration of how Russia is weaponizing children to build this new generation of fighters,” she said.

She said the issue of Ukrainian children who have been forcibly taken by Russia is often viewed as a humanitarian crisis, but that it’s also a national security threat to NATO, especially the eastern flank.

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Hala Systems’ legal assessment said that the presence of military personnel as counsellors at children’s camps violates international legal norms, including a number of articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Additionally, this practice can be viewed as part of the militarization of civilian spaces, which is impermissible under international humanitarian law,” the analysis said.

“In some cases, such practices may be considered part of a broader state policy that may accompany war crimes or genocide – particularly when militarization involves forcibly displaced or deported Ukrainian children,” the analysis continued.

Last week, the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health published an extensive report called Ukraine’s Stolen Children: Inside Russia’s Network of Re-education and Militarization, which revealed that children from Ukraine have been taken to at least 210 locations in Russia and in occupied territory of Ukraine.

Satellite data shed light on Russia’s modern-day gulags for Ukrainian children

Detention facilities (previous used as):

School

Hotel/resort

Camp

Orphanage

Healthcare facility

Other

FINLAND

RUSSIA

Yekaterinburg

St. Petersburg

Moscow

Novosibirsk

KAZAKHSTAN

UKRAINE

Yunarmiya headquarters

Areas under Russian control

RUSSIA

Kyiv

UKRAINE

Donetsk

Luhansk

Melitopol

Kherson

Crimea

Sevastopol

Satellite photo of Russia’s ‘Yunarmiya,’

or Youth Army, facilities in Melitopol,

occupied Ukraine

Yunarmiya HQ, Melitopol

Church

Gas station

Refrigerator factory occupied by the Russian forces

Earthworks first visible in May 2022 appear to be trenches dug to train soldiers for combat situations.

MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE:

HALA SYSTEMS; PLANET LABS PBC; OPENSTREETMAP

Detention facilities (previous used as):

Hotel/resort

School

Camp

Healthcare facility

Orphanage

Other

FINLAND

RUSSIA

Yekaterinburg

St. Petersburg

Moscow

Novosibirsk

BELARUS

KAZAKHSTAN

UKRAINE

Yunarmiya headquarters

Areas under Russian control

RUSSIA

Kyiv

UKRAINE

Donetsk

Luhansk

Melitopol

Kherson

Crimea

Sevastopol

Satellite photo of Russia’s ‘Yunarmiya,’ or Youth Army,

facilities in Melitopol, occupied Ukraine

Yunarmiya HQ, Melitopol

Church

Gas station

Refrigerator factory occupied by the Russian forces

Earthworks first visible in May 2022 appear to be trenches dug to train soldiers for combat situations.

MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE:

HALA SYSTEMS; PLANET LABS PBC; OPENSTREETMAP

FINLAND

RUSSIA

St. Petersburg

Yekaterinburg

Moscow

Novosibirsk

BELARUS

KAZAKHSTAN

UKRAINE

Detention facilities (previous used as):

School

Healthcare facility

Orphanage

Camp

Hotel/resort

Other

TURKEY

RUSSIA

Kyiv

UKRAINE

Luhansk

Donetsk

Melitopol

Kherson

Sea of

Azov

Black Sea

Crimea

Yunarmiya

headquarters

Sevastopol

Areas under

Russian control

Satellite photo of Russia’s ‘Yunarmiya,’ or Youth Army, facilities in Melitopol, occupied Ukraine

Yunarmiya HQ, Melitopol

Church

Gas station

Refrigerator factory occupied by the Russian forces

Earthworks first visible in May 2022 appear to be trenches dug to train soldiers for combat situations.

MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: HALA SYSTEMS; PLANET LABS PBC; OPENSTREETMAP

FINLAND

RUSSIA

St. Petersburg

Yekaterinburg

Moscow

Novosibirsk

BELARUS

UKRAINE

KAZAKHSTAN

Detention facilities (previous used as):

School

Healthcare facility

Camp

Orphanage

Hotel/resort

Other

TURKEY

RUSSIA

Kyiv

UKRAINE

Luhansk

Donetsk

Melitopol

Kherson

Sea of

Azov

Black Sea

Crimea

Yunarmiya

headquarters

Sevastopol

Areas under

Russian control

Satellite photo of Russia’s ‘Yunarmiya,’ or Youth Army, facilities in Melitopol, occupied Ukraine

Yunarmiya HQ, Melitopol

Church

Gas station

Refrigerator factory occupied by the Russian forces

Earthworks first visible in May 2022 appear to be trenches dug to train soldiers for combat situations.

MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: HALA SYSTEMS; PLANET LABS PBC; OPENSTREETMAP

FINLAND

RUSSIA

St. Petersburg

Yekaterinburg

Moscow

Novosibirsk

BELARUS

UKRAINE

KAZAKHSTAN

Detention facilities (previous used as):

School

Healthcare facility

Camp

Orphanage

Hotel/resort

Other

TURKEY

Yunarmiya

headquarters

Areas under

Russian control

RUSSIA

Kyiv

UKRAINE

Luhansk

Donetsk

Melitopol

Kherson

Sea of

Azov

Black Sea

Crimea

Sevastopol

Satellite photo of Russia’s ‘Yunarmiya,’ or Youth Army, facilities in Melitopol, occupied Ukraine

Yunarmiya HQ, Melitopol

Church

Gas station

Refrigerator factory occupied by the Russian forces

Earthworks first visible in May 2022 appear to be trenches dug to train soldiers for combat situations.

MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: HALA SYSTEMS; PLANET LABS PBC; OPENSTREETMAP

The report says that children at these facilities “routinely undergo ‘re-education’ and, in many cases, are placed in programs of forced militarization that include, though are not limited to, combat and paratrooper training.”

“Children at some facilities have been engaged in the production of military equipment for Russia’s armed forces, including drones,” the report said.

The investigation found that Russia is “operating a potentially unprecedented system of large-scale re-education, military training, and dormitory facilities capable of holding tens of thousands of children from Ukraine for long periods of time.”

Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab, said “we’re dealing with the single largest kidnapping since World War II.”

Mr. Raymond said governments are doing “almost nothing” apart from diplomatic and political pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin - a man who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court. But he said it’s not clear how much the international community will do to bring these children back.

“This isn’t about Ukraine’s children alone. It’s about the special protected status that children have in the Geneva Convention. They are not hostages. They are not to be taken. They are not to be traded. And that is what international law says. And if we have a situation where Putin gets away with using these children as poker chips in a dangerous card game as leverage against Ukraine, then it means giving the green light in the wars of tomorrow to take children as hostages.”