- Category
- World
Russian Grants Fund “Survival Skills” Classes for Schoolchildren Near Ukraine Border
Prefer U24 Media on Google
- Authors
![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
Russia’s Presidential Grants Foundation has allocated more than 2 million rubles (approximately $25,000) to a program aimed at teaching schoolchildren in the Belgorod region “survival skills for life in the border area,” according to Russian outlet Ostorozhno, Novosti on June 22.
The initiative will be implemented by the Brotherhood of Orthodox Pathfinders and is scheduled to run from September 2026 through June 2027. It will involve 120 children and teenagers aged 10 to 17 from five scouting groups in Belgorod, Stary Oskol, Chernyanka, Novy Oskol, and Shebekino.
We bring you stories from the ground. Your support keeps our team in the field.
According to the project description, participants will receive training on how to respond during emergencies, prepare emergency “go-bags,” and navigate using maps and compasses. The curriculum also includes guidance on how to act during missile and drone attacks, as well as artillery shelling.
A separate section of the program will focus on mine awareness. Children will be shown how anti-personnel mines, including the Russian-design “Lepestok,” appear and instructed on how to respond if they encounter suspicious objects.
The program also includes basic first-aid training, covering techniques for stopping severe bleeding and evacuating injured individuals.
In addition, participants will receive lessons in what organizers describe as “information hygiene.” They will be instructed not to publish photos or videos of military facilities, taught how to distinguish false information from reliable sources, and trained to avoid spreading panic.
The Belgorod initiative reflects broader state-supported efforts to introduce military-oriented training in early education. In 2025, Russian preschools began the year with large-scale military-patriotic exercises for young children, including throwing toy grenades, crawling through snow, and weaving camouflage nets.
Posts on the social network VKontakte from kindergartens and local authorities indicate a significant increase in such activities. Nearly 300 reports of military-themed drills in preschools have been recorded since the start of 2025—three times more than during the same period last year and five times more than in 2023. No similar reports were documented in early 2022.
Around 60 children from 10 kindergartens took part in activities such as marching drills, mock grenade throwing, basic first aid training, demining exercises, and reciting stories about Soviet-era war heroes. Military personnel reportedly presented awards to participants.
Meanwhile, Russian forces in temporarily occupied Luhansk region are carrying out systematic efforts to prepare local children for potential future service in the occupying army.
According to the report, in the town of Stanytsia Luhanska, personnel from Russia’s National Guard (Rosgvardiya), together with activists from the ruling United Russia party, organized a so-called “training session” for members of the local “Ataman” football club, presenting it as a celebration of National Sports Day.
Discuss this article:
-111f0e5095e02c02446ffed57bfb0ab1.jpeg "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
