This theme covers how Russia uses schooling, youth programmes and the removal of children to reshape a generation in occupied Ukraine. Control of children is the occupation's longest game. Of the roughly 1.6 million Ukrainian children living under occupation, some 615,000 are of school age and more than 100,000 already sit inside Russian military-patriotic youth movements. A further 20,610 have been officially identified as deported to the Russian Federation and, in part, Belarus — a figure that Russia's own claimed totals put as high as 744,000 — while only 2,353 have been returned. Those who remain feed into Yunarmiya, the 1.3-million-strong "Youth Army" backed by roughly USD 80 million a year in state funding. Having already absorbed 29,000 children in Crimea and 7,500 in Donetsk and Luhansk by 2021, Yunarmiya has, since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, expanded into occupied Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab has now mapped 210 facilities across Russia and occupied territory — more than half of them run directly by the Russian state — and estimates that up to 35,000 children have been deported or forcibly displaced. This theme follows that pipeline from the classroom to the paramilitarisation programmes, and asks what the resulting cohort means for the years ahead.
Questions we ask
- What is Russia teaching children in occupied Ukraine, and to what end?
- How does the militarisation pipeline work, from classroom to youth movement to conscription age?
- What happens to Ukrainian children deported into Russia?
- Why does this matter beyond the occupation itself, and what does the militarised cohort represent?
Fact-check of statistics
All figures have been verified against primary sources as of 3 July 2026. The Yale HRL figures have been updated: the earlier count (43 facilities / approx. 30,000 children) has been replaced with the lab's report of 16 September 2025 (210 facilities). Note that the ~35,000 estimate refers to children deported or forcibly displaced, not the number held within the 210 facilities. The source and link for each figure are listed below.
| Figure | What it means | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.6 million | Ukrainian children aged 0–18 currently living in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) | Almenda, 2025 | ukrinform.ua |
| 615,000 | Of whom are of school age | Almenda, 2025 | ukrinform.ua |
| 100,000+ | Children in the TOT enrolled in Russian military-patriotic youth movements | Almenda, 2025 | ukrinform.ua |
| 20,610 | Officially identified cases of deportation / forced displacement | childrenofwar.gov.ua, as of 3 July 2026 | childrenofwar.gov.ua |
| up to 744,000 | Open-source estimate, including figures reported by Russia itself | childrenofwar.gov.ua, as of 3 July 2026 | childrenofwar.gov.ua |
| 2,353 | Children returned (Bring Kids Back UA) | childrenofwar.gov.ua, as of 3 July 2026 | childrenofwar.gov.ua |
| 1.3 million | Members of "Yunarmiya" ("Youth Army") | Havrylov, Georgetown CGCI, 17 June 2025 | globalchildren.georgetown.edu |
| USD 80 million/year | State funding for "Yunarmiya" | Havrylov, Georgetown CGCI, 17 June 2025 | globalchildren.georgetown.edu |
| 29,000 | Children enrolled in "Yunarmiya" in occupied Crimea as of 2021 | Havrylov, Georgetown CGCI, 17 June 2025 | globalchildren.georgetown.edu |
| 7,500 | Children enrolled in "Yunarmiya" in the occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as of 2021 | Havrylov, Georgetown CGCI, 17 June 2025 | globalchildren.georgetown.edu |
| 210 | Facilities identified for holding / re-educating children in Russia and the occupied territories (updated from 43) | Yale HRL, "Ukraine's Stolen Children," 16 September 2025 | ysph.yale.edu |
| ~35,000 | Estimated children deported or forcibly displaced (updated from ~30,000) | Yale HRL, "Ukraine's Stolen Children," 16 September 2025 | ysph.yale.edu |