Children in occupied Donbas swallow pro-Kremlin propaganda on a daily basis.
Ukraine is no longer mentioned in their textbooks, except when accompanied by the terms “Russophobia” and “neo-Nazism,” popular on Russian TV.
Trying to nurture a generation loyal to the pro-Russian regime, the occupation authorities have Russified all education, waging a massive propaganda campaign in schools and beyond.
While this campaign has turned some young people against Ukraine, the occupants’ methods are failing. Tired of war, poverty and isolation, the youth of Donbas is fleeing to the rest of Ukraine or to Russia in search of a better life.
The Kyiv Post interviewed teenagers from the occupied territories of Donbas to see how Russia’s efforts to eradicate Ukrainian identity in the region affected their education and hopes for the future. All have requested to not be identified by their full names to avoid reprisals.
Russification
The Kremlin’s proxies are working hard to erase all traces of Ukrainian identity from the Donbas, where the war with Russia has already killed about 14,000 people.
Kids living under occupation can no longer study Ukrainian literature, language, or history. All have been replaced with Russia-related content or social studies about the so-called “People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk” – the self-names used by the Russia-controlled occupation authorities in their pretense at independence.
According to occupation authorities in Luhansk, high schools must try to produce graduates who “accept the traditional values of the civil society of the Luhansk People’s Republic” and “recognize their involvement in the fate of the Fatherland.”
An education program published by occupation authorities in Donetsk includes subjects like “Donbas Citizenship and Spirituality Lessons” and “Russia in the World.”
The goal is to make students see the modern world from Russia’s point of view. The citizenship and spirituality class pushes the concept of “the Russian world,” according to which, carriers of Russian culture and language are spiritually connected with Russia regardless of nationality.
“Schools here just dispose of Ukrainian textbooks for recycling,” Myroslava, a 17-year-old living in Donetsk, told the Kyiv Post.
Myroslava studies physically in a school in Donetsk and remotely in a school in Ukraine-controlled territory. Like many other young people in Donbas, she is desperate to flee and go to a Ukrainian university.
But to get accepted into a university in Ukraine, students must pass Ukrainian language and history tests.
The total Russification of schools in occupied territories forces students to study remotely in Ukrainian schools or find private tutors to prepare for exams.
The occupants make it as difficult as possible for children to flee to Ukraine.
The eradication of all things Ukrainian is accompanied by routine border closures and intimidation during exam season when dozens travel to Ukraine to pass admission tests.
“I notice that my classmates start forgetting the language, it’s very difficult for them to talk and write in Ukrainian,” Myroslava said.
She remembers how portraits of Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine’s most renowned writer, were taken down from classroom walls, replaced by portraits of Denis Pushilin – the self-proclaimed head of the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast.
“It’s upsetting that our education is bad and politicized,” Myroslava adds.
School bench propaganda
Children are easy to indoctrinate, and pro-Kremlin occupants use that to their advantage.
The Grade 11 local history schoolbook published by occupation authorities denounces the EuroMaidan Revolution of 2014 that toppled the pro-Kremlin President Victor Yanukovych.
Accusing Ukrainians of xenophobia and Russophobia, the schoolbook describes pro-Russian demonstrations in Donbas on the eve of the Russian invasion but ignores the authoritarian crackdown on peaceful protests and the police violence during the revolution.
The book vilifies American politicians like John McCain and Victoria Nuland who visited EuroMaidan protesters in 2014 and supported their movement.
Ukraine, the textbook says, took a “new nationalist turn to a Western oligarchic course” in 2014.
“It’s hard to believe in another reality when you live in propaganda. Teenagers don’t understand politics these days. They believe what they are told,” said Anatoliy, a school teacher from the occupied territories of Donbas, in an interview with RFE/RL.
A boy with a toy machinegun holds a flag of the “Donetsk People’s Republic,” the self-name used by the Russia-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, during the Victory Day parade in Donetsk on May 9, 2016. (AFP)
Myroslava said she routinely hears anti-Ukrainian sentiments in school.
“I feel the most pressure when I am in civics or history classes,” she told the Kyiv Post.
Her history teacher argued that some Ukrainians were fascists because when he visited non-occupied Ukraine, he allegedly saw people using a ruler to measure facial features to determine whether someone was “Ukrainian enough.” It’s a lie that combines Russia’s anti-Ukrainian propaganda and the 20th-century German Nazi’s fascination with craniometry, a science that claims to predict a person’s traits and intelligence based on their skull shape.
The same teacher told the class that Ukraine was created by Austria – another invention of Russian propaganda that frames Ukraine as an “artificial” state.
Myroslava said few of her classmates take these lies seriously. Her fellow 11th graders are old enough to remember Russia’s invasion of Donbas in 2014 and know how to think critically.
Younger kids, however, are more vulnerable to propaganda.
Primary school kids are taught Christianity in the context of Russia.
The occupation authorities shape the identities of the youth by teaching them “the heroic past of their (Russian) people,” tearing them further away from Ukraine.
And many young adults fall for the anti-Ukrainian rhetoric.
The Student League, a group of university students organized by the education authorities in the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast, for instance, has actively pursued pro-Kremlin patriotic initiatives.
In May this year, the league, along with two other student groups, created an art installation, “The Land of Heroes.” Student activists drew portraits of famous military сommanders of separatist battalions in Donbas and self-proclaimed leaders of occupational authorities.
A screenshot from a video posted by the pro-Kremlin Student League of the so-called People’s Republic of Donetsk on Instagram. Student activists draw portraits of military commanders of separatist battalions in Donbas and self-proclaimed leaders of occupational authorities for an art installation “The Land of Heroes.” (Courtesy)
Three months ago, when protests in support of the jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny swept through Russia, the Student League posted a video address to Russian students. In it, the league’s members said that the EuroMaidan Revolution caused a “civil war” in Ukraine, warning students against protesting to avoid similarly disastrous outcomes.
“After the revolution, (Ukraine) was divided into the West and the East. Into those who bought into the lies about European standards of living and those who wanted to stay home, with Russia,” one student said in the address.
The Kyiv Post repeatedly reached out to many members of the league, including its chairman, Vladimir Sukhinin, but all refused to comment.
Historical past
Donbas kids learn new traditions and celebrate new holidays created by the occupants, like the Day of the Republic in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Rallies are held on the anniversary of the 2014 “self-rule” referendum, deemed illegitimate and unconstitutional by virtually everyone but the Russian-backed militants.
“There are all these parades and events on days that celebrate the republic, and we are forced to prepare concerts and shows,” said Nastya, a 17-year-old living in Makiyivka, a city on the outskirts of Donetsk.
In Grade 10, Nastya quit her school in occupied Makiyivka and transitioned to remote learning in a Ukrainian education center.
“If you are a part of the school’s student government, you have to take part in pro-DNR or Victory Day events,” she said. “Few people participate in parades voluntarily, so students are brought in to make it appear crowded and popular.”
A screenshot of a video recording from the Victory Day military parade in Russian-occupied Donetsk. (Courtesy)
The difference between Ukraine and the occupied territories is visible during Victory Day celebrations. While the rest of the world commemorates the defeat of Nazi Germany on May 8, post-Soviet states celebrate on May 9. Russia still hosts grand military parades every May 9, while many young Ukrainians prefer to celebrate on May 8, in solidarity with the West.
In occupied territories, Soviet traditions still reign. Children still parade in military uniform alongside soldiers on May 9. Some hold guns, some flowers.
Schools take students to visit local military units and have them write letters to soldiers, thanking them for their “heroism.”
Some young people in Donbas accept it as their ideology.
“I am glad that in Donetsk we can freely wear the ribbon of Saint George and be proud of our historical past,” a fourth-year international relations student from Donetsk, who asked to remain anonymous because of security concerns, told the Kyiv Post.
She is an active member of the Youth Diplomacy Centre “Legatus,” and a political junkie. On her Instagram page, she quotes speeches of Russian President Vladimir Putin and posts photographs from the “Russian Unity: Protection of Rights and Liberties” forum and various Russian cities.
Having spent her entire life in Donetsk, she now hopes to move to Russia for better education.
A girl waves the former USSR flag during a 1 May Day rally organized by supporters of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk in the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on May 1, 2016. (AFP)
The black-and-orange striped Saint George ribbon is a symbol of military prowess and Soviet heroism in World War II. In line with its decommunization efforts, Ukraine banned the display of ribbons and other communist symbols in 2017.
“I love Ukraine deeply, it is my country… but I categorically defy its neo-Nazi tendencies,” the student told Kyiv Post, recalling how she saw a video of Ukrainian teenagers give a Nazi-style salute to World War II veterans. In fact, it was one man, who covered his face with a balaklava and saluted to a veteran in Kyiv on May 9. The video of the incident was picked up by Russian media.
She doesn’t think Ukraine has a future within the European community, and thinks Ukraine shouldn’t “fight like this with Russia.” She also praised Russia for providing social and economic assistance to people in occupied Donbas.
Fleeing isolation
Despite the occupants’ efforts, the teenagers that the Kyiv Post interviewed say that “nearly everyone” their age wants to flee the region.
“There are very few people who enjoy living here,” said Nastya, who lives in Makiivka. “Regardless of whether they support Ukraine or Russia, everyone hopes to leave”.
Even students who actively participate in propagandist youth groups in occupied territories try to find a better quality of life abroad, particularly in Russia.
“Most of my friends left because nothing ever gets better here,” said Alexandra from Donetsk.
She is 22, and an active participant of the local movement Republican Youth Student Labor Units – groups of students who voluntarily unite to pursue “patriotic” and social initiatives.
Alexandra said she is no political expert and refused to talk about war.
Yet she eagerly listed the reasons to move out — the daily 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, low salaries, lack of diversity in consumer goods, bad education, and the fact that Ukraine and other countries don’t recognize documents issued by the occupation authorities. A “diploma” issued by the “Donetsk People’s Republic,” for example, may as well be a blank piece of paper.
“I have more connections with Russia just because it’s easier to get there,” Alexandra said. “Our local documents are not recognized in Ukraine”.
Politics aside, the young generation of Donbas is tired of isolation, propaganda, curfews, poverty, joblessness, and the never-ending war.
“Those people (in Donbas) live a very different life, and it’s not the life that I want,” said Danylo, who moved from Donetsk to Lviv, a western Ukrainian city, in 2014, when the war started.
“I want to call this my home… but the warm feelings didn’t prevail over the feelings of shame, sorrow and disgust with what’s happening there,” he added. “Now you just want to get away as fast as you can.”
