Russia is operating a network of more than 200 facilities across its territory and occupied Ukraine to re-educate, Russify, and militarise Ukrainian children, according to a new investigation by the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health, reported The Guardian. 

The sites include camps, schools, military bases, medical facilities, religious centres, and universities. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, children have been taken to these locations for programmes combining patriotic indoctrination, combat drills, paratrooper training, and classes on assembling drones for the Russian armed forces. 

At least 130 of the camps engage in re-education, while 39 operate militarisation programmes, exposing children as young as eight to weapons training, grenade-throwing competitions, and tactical medicine.

Nathaniel Raymond, director of the Humanitarian Research Lab, said, “What we have here is an unprecedented network of facilities, expressly built and expanded since 2014, to turn Ukrainian children into Russians. It is a pipeline for Ukraine’s children to be re-educated – brainwashed – and turned into soldiers.”

Researchers corroborated open-source evidence with satellite imagery and official Russian publications, confirming government involvement in at least half of the sites. The report highlights expansion at nearly a quarter of the locations, suggesting Moscow plans to accommodate more children.

The study strengthens allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as the systematic deportation and militarisation of children violates the Geneva Conventions and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ukraine’s presidential office head Andriy Yermak said the findings “provide irrefutable evidence contradicting Russian denials and misinformation” and called for action.