In the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson Oblast, the invaders are intensifying the militarization of youth. Starting in 2026, cadet classes of the Investigative Committee (IC) of the Russian Federation are planned to be opened in schools in Henichesk, Chaplynka, and Novotroitske districts. This was reported by the Center for National Resistance (CNR), writes UNN.
Details
Agreements on the creation of these classes were personally signed by the head of the Investigative Department of the IC of the Russian Federation for Kherson Oblast, Dmytro Malykov. This confirms that the project aims to train future personnel for the aggressor's repressive system. Instead of general education, children are offered a closed trajectory that involves transitioning from school to a departmental higher education institution with subsequent service in punitive bodies.
According to the CNR, participation in such classes is only formally voluntary. School administrations receive instructions to form lists of students, primarily from socially vulnerable families. In case of refusal, parents face administrative pressure, and children find themselves in conditions of unofficial isolation within educational institutions.
The goal of the occupation policy
According to the CNR, the introduction of IC cadet classes solves several strategic tasks of the occupation authorities at once. First, there is an active militarization of youth consciousness through accustoming schoolchildren to a rigid hierarchy and unconditional subordination. Second, the constant presence of law enforcement representatives in schools normalizes their role in civilian life and blurs the line between the educational process and the punitive system. Finally, the occupiers seek to form a loyal personnel reserve of executors for state coercion directly from among local residents.
Such actions by the invaders are part of a broader strategy to change the identity of Ukrainian children and their conscious involvement in the military machine of the Russian Federation.