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Yale Report: Russia Running 210 Camps to Indoctrinate and Militarize Ukrainian Children
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Russia is running a vast and coordinated system to deport, indoctrinate, and even militarize Ukrainian children on an unprecedented scale, according to a new investigation by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), according to the study, released September 16.
The report identifies at least 210 facilities across Russia and occupied Ukraine where children have been transferred since the full-scale invasion began.
⚡️Nearly 11,000 Ukrainian children from occupied territories were taken to Russian “re-education” camps in 2025 for militarization and erasing identity.
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) September 12, 2025
Rights group Zmina calls it a deliberate Kremlin policy. pic.twitter.com/HUE4Y9OSsV
These range from cadet schools and military bases to camps, sanatoria, religious institutions, and universities. Many appear designed not just to house children, but to rewire them through systemic re-education and military training.
Researchers found evidence of combat drills, parades, weapons assembly, and drone-building at roughly 40 sites.
The report also documents widespread exposure to pro-Russian cultural and patriotic programming.
“We now know that the true scale of Russia’s network of facilities militarising, transferring, and re-educating children taken from Ukraine is massive. At least 210 facilities, many of them under Russia’s direct control, hold Ukraine’s children from the Black Sea to Siberia and the Pacific Coast,” Nathaniel Raymond, HRL’s Executive Director, said
Ukrainian officials condemned the findings as proof of a deliberate Kremlin strategy to weaponize children.
“This report demands action. Children are always the most vulnerable victims of armed conflict. Not only have these children undergone trauma and displacement, they have also suffered systemic deportation, illegal adoption, and forced assimilation. It’s now clear Russia plans to use Ukraine’s own children as a ‘weapon’ against us and Europe more broadly,” stated Andriy Yermak, head of the President of Ukraine Office.
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Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, President of the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO, Mariana Betsa, called the revelations devastating.
“There can no longer be any doubt – these innocent and vulnerable victims of Russia’s full-scale invasion have not just been taken from their families and homes but forced into re-education and militarisation. For the sake of global peace, Russia must return Ukrainian children home – then we can speak about a credible path forward,” she said.
The report emphasizes that Russia’s program is centrally organized and directly operated in many cases by the state. Satellite imagery, open-source intelligence, and Russian government records all confirm the facilities’ role in housing and indoctrinating deported children.
Ukraine has recovered only a fraction of those abducted. International organizations, including the UN and International Criminal Court, have pressed Russia for access, but Moscow has blocked most efforts.
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The HRL’s findings are part of the Conflict Observatory program, which tracks Russian war crimes and abuses. The lab’s previous reports have already fed into evidence-gathering for future prosecutions. Forced transfer of children is considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
Ukraine has its Bring Kids Back UA initiative to coordinate efforts with allies and international organizations to locate and return abducted children. Officials stress that justice for these crimes will be sought at every level—from Kremlin leadership down to the operatives managing the camps.
Earlier, reports emerged that Russian aggression resulted in 44% of children in Ukraine exhibiting signs of potential PTSD.
