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How Russian Giants Gazprom and Rosneft Orchestrated the “Re-Education” of 2,000 Ukrainian Kids
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A new study by Yale University has publicly confirmed that Russian state-owned companies, Gazprom, a major natural gas producer, and Rosneft, one of the largest oil companies, funded the transportation and “re-education” of more than 2,000 Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories between 2022 and 2025.
The findings were released in a report by the Yale University School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) on March 25.
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According to the report, at least 2,158 children from Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions were transferred to six camps in Russia and temporarily occupied Crimea. These included camps such as Prometey, Signal, Kuban Niva, Art-Kvest, Sputnik, and the A.V. Kazakevich Children’s Health Camp.
Three of these camps were owned by Gazprom subsidiaries during the time the children were there, and two of them remain under the company’s ownership. Rosneft, through its trade union, facilitated the transfer of 100 children to three camps in 2023.
The companies provided vouchers that allowed children to attend camps with pro-Russian reeducation programs at little or no cost. Yale's HRL stressed that not all of these transfers had parental consent, and some permissions may have been invalid.
According to the HRL’s report in September 2025, at least 210 facilities across Russia and temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories have been identified where children have been transferred.
These include a wide range of institutions, from military schools and cadet training centers to camps, sanatoria, religious institutions, and universities. While some of these places may appear to be designed for housing children, many are believed to focus on systematically reprogramming them through re-education and military-style training.
The HRL’s findings indicate that around 40 of these facilities are engaged in more direct forms of militarization, with evidence of combat drills, military parades and weapons assembly.
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In addition to the re-education efforts, stolen Ukrainian children are being forced to work in Russian factories that produce drones and other military hardware for Moscow’s armed forces.
According to the HRL’s investigation, at the "All-Russian Children’s Centre Change" in Krasnodar Krai, Ukrainian children were found constructing drones, mine detectors, robots, and rapid loaders for assault rifles. More than 300 children from the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia have been taken to this facility between 2022 and the present day.
The report further reveals that the camp runs at least six different programs for children from both Russia and temporarily occupied Ukraine. Some of these programs are organized by Yunarmiya, a militarized youth movement funded by Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
In April 2024, children at Yunarmiya’s “camp of innovation and technology” were forced to manufacture battlefield equipment, including weapons and surveillance drones.
As of December 2025, Ukraine returned 1,859 children who were abducted by Russia, according to Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska.
Referring to Ukraine’s national “Children of War” database, the Kyiv Independent added that since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, at least 19,546 Ukrainian children have been taken from temporarily occupied regions to Russia or Russian-controlled areas.
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