For the first time, residents of four partially occupied regions of Ukraine were drafted into the Russian army

Residents of the partially occupied regions of Ukraine – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson – were among the conscripts of the Russian army for the first time. The publication “Vazhnye istorii” drew attention to the relevant media publications and reports of the heads of these regions appointed by Russia.

Together with them, young men from Crimea, occupied by Russia in 2014, were also called up again.

Evgeny Balytskyi, the head of the occupation administration of the Zaporizhia region appointed by Russia, assured that “no conscripts will be sent to the territory of the SVO (the official name of the war against Ukraine – ed.).” But among the places of military service, Balytsky named Crimea, on which military facilities are regularly attacked by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, conscripts from the occupied regions of Ukraine will serve in the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation.

Volodymyr Saldo, the head of the occupation administration of the Kherson region appointed by Russia, stated that the residents of the region “will not be subject to mobilization for five years.”

Residents of the occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions told the RFE/RL project “Donbas.Realii” that high school students in local schools are actively involved in the militarized organization “Unarmia” and that over the past year it has become a training ground for future personnel of the Russian army. Among the pupils of the organization there are already those who died in the war against Ukraine.

According to the parents, earlier in these regions, joining the “Unarmy” was mainly “for a check mark”, but from 2022, children began to be actively prepared “for service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, they say, the occupying authorities are increasingly actively involving high school students in “military propaganda”: they hold meetings with participants in hostilities, organize rallies in support of the war, etc.

In June 2024, the Yunarmia website was hacked. On it appeared a video with footage of dead Russian soldiers in Ukraine with the caption: “Today your children are in the “Unarmy”, tomorrow – in Ukrainian land.”

None of the hackers took responsibility for the breach, but after it serious changes took place on the official website. Any memories and information about the fallen young soldiers were removed from the page, even in the “Walk of Fame” section. Previously, there were more than a hundred names there – mentors, graduates and participants of “Unarmy”, in particular from the occupied territories of Ukraine.