The impacts of Russia’s political propaganda on Ukrainian education
For the past four years, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has dominated news outlets and been a major subject of political discourse. The world has reached a consensus that the war must end, albeit with differing opinions on how to do so. For the most part, global debate prioritizes an end to global conflict, not what comes next. Russia, however, has been focusing on its future involvement in Ukraine, primarily through its takeover of Ukrainian children’s education. Their actions, which have been deemed as war crimes, foreshadow that a simple treaty will not be a perfect solution for long-term peace.
Since its first invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has illegally captured over 19,000 Ukrainian children and destroyed at least 1,570 schools in Ukraine. Russia has seized the remaining schools and is forcefully enrolling captive Ukrainian children into Russian schools. In Ukraine, teachers are forced to follow a new curriculum out of fear of imprisonment or torture. Russian education is primarily political propaganda. Children are taught that Ukraine started the war, that Russia is Ukraine’s savior, and that they must be loyal and patriotic to Russia. Children are required to sing the Russian national anthem and are punished for practicing Ukrainian customs or speaking the language. Those who have escaped the regime have corroborated these stories but still fear prosecution for telling the truth. “As an occupying power, Russia is obligated by treaties it has signed to uphold children’s existing identity, traditions and education,” says Danielle Bell, head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. “Russia has violated these obligations.”
Russia’s willingness to risk international persecution reveals their underlying goal to completely erase conceptions of Ukraine as a sovereign nation from the impressionable minds of schoolchildren. Russia sought to guarantee that, regardless of their military invasion’s success, their influence over Ukraine would endure well into the future through the children, who’ve been indoctrinated with pro-Russian propaganda. By targeting children when their minds are the most susceptible to believe everything they are told, Russia creates a safety net for its ultimate goal of complete control over all of Ukraine—something they feel entitled to since Ukraine declared independence from Russia. The aggressor has shown throughout this extensive conflict that it will not lose sight of the goal; it is willing to be patient. Psychological warfare against children is a major human rights violation, and it shows how far Russia is willing to go to achieve full domination in Ukraine.
While it is easy to be distracted by grand declarations of violence, wars are won through long-term strategy. Russia has engineered its conflict with Ukraine to be never-ending, ensuring chaos in the country even if Russia does not win by physical force. Russia’s control over Ukrainian education assures the continuation of this conflict and forces new generations to continue the fight for power.
