Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Liz Cookman, in Kyiv

How Russia is grooming Ukraine’s children to fight for it: ‘I understood it wasn’t just play’

A montage of photographs of children in uniform taking part in military-style training exercises.
Children at an Avangard camp, where they are reportedly taught to dig trenches, load machine guns and take part in other military training exercises. Illustration: Joe Plimmer/Guardian pictures

Last summer, Sonya*, aged 17 at the time, had endured more than two years of a difficult life under Russian occupation in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. Her foster mother agreed that she needed a break.

Growing up under forced assimilation had been scary, Sonya says, and her Russian-controlled school had offered to take her to a holiday camp in Crimea, a balmy peninsula once famed for being the spa of the Soviet Union.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.