The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense published the details of those involved in the militarization of Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories. This was reported by the HUR, according to UNN.
At the “Zarnitsa 2.0” competitions held in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in May 2026, Putin’s “Movement of the First” taught children how to handle weapons and explosives and operate drones, while also spreading militaristic propaganda among minors. The purpose of such events is to destroy Ukrainian identity in children and prepare them to participate in the criminal war against their own country
The intelligence service published the names of those militarizing children in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine:
- Artur Orlov — chairman of the board of the “Movement of the First”;
- Alexei Lavrentiev, Marina Tsvetinskaya, Ruyal Aliyev, Yekaterina Kozyr, and Viktoria Kostromina — regional “leaders” of the “Movement of the First” in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. During competitions in the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia region, Kostromina stated that the military skills acquired by the children would become a “reliable foundation in life” for them;
- Svetlana Bespalova — the so-called deputy minister of education, science, and youth of Russia’s occupation administration in Crimea. Since April 2022, she has participated in implementing the aggressor state’s educational and youth policy on the occupied peninsula, promoted the integration of local educational institutions into Russia’s educational space, and introduced Russian educational and propaganda practices;
- Nikita Polyakov — chief of staff of the regional branch of Russia’s “Yunarmiya” in the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson region. He regularly organizes propaganda events for children involving participants in Russia’s criminal war against Ukraine and representatives of the Russian security services.
The aggressor state Russia is carrying out the forced ideological “rewiring” of Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and forming future army recruits in order to implement an aggressive neo-imperial policy. The HUR is documenting the methods, organizers, and perpetrators of criminal acts in the occupied territories of Ukraine — inevitable and just retribution awaits each and every one of them
We remind you
Eight members of an organized group — the heads of the territorial “Yunarmiya” headquarters in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk region — have been notified of suspicion of militarizing Ukrainian children in the occupied territories.