A mother hugs her children after their return from the occupied territory of Ukraine via the Ukraine-Belarus border, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Volyn region, Ukraine, on September 3, 2023.
Russian occupying authorities force Ukrainian children into schools that suppress Ukrainian identity, promote anti-Ukraine propaganda, pressure them into militarized youth programs, and illegally compel boys to register for the draft.Russian internet restrictions and surveillance, including at schools, make accessing Ukrainian education online difficult and dangerous.Governments should press Russia to end propaganda and militarization through schools and to allow Ukrainian children to study the Ukrainian curriculum, and support Ukraine in reintegrating children who went through the Russian-run school system.
(Kyiv, July 16, 2026) – Russian authorities in occupied Ukrainian territories are forcing Ukrainian children into a school system that violates their right to education and seems designed to destroy their Ukrainian national identity, Human Rights Watch said today.
The education system mirrors Russia’s national curriculum and excludes Ukrainian-language instruction. Occupation authorities surveil and punish children for studying in Ukrainian schools online, require students to obtain Russian passports to graduate, indoctrinate children with anti-Ukraine propaganda and militaristic lessons, and channel boys toward Russian military registration and conscription. An estimated 1.6 million children, 600,000 of whom are school-age, remain in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.
July 16, 2026
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