Author: Karolina Hird

Data cut-off: 11 am ET, July 7

 
ISW’s Russian Occupation Update tracks the activities that occur in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. The occupation updates will examine Russian efforts to consolidate administrative control of annexed areas and forcibly integrate Ukrainian citizens into Russian sociocultural, economic, military, and governance systems. This product line replaces the section of the daily Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment covering activities in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
 
To read ISW’s assessment of how Russian activities in occupied areas of Ukraine are part of a coerced Russification and ethnic cleansing campaign, click here.  

Key Takeaways:

• A Russian State Duma deputy oversaw the deportation of children from occupied Kherson Oblast to Russia under the guise of escorting them to a rehabilitation program. Russia is clearly abrogating its responsibilities as an occupying power by sending Ukrainian children to medical institutions in Russia, most of which are linked to the Russian government and military.
• The new Russian occupation governor of Mariupol announced plans for 2,000 children from occupied Mariupol to attend summer camps in St. Petersburg in 2025.
• Russian nuclear energy operator Rosenergoatom is sponsoring the removal of Ukrainian children to summer camps in occupied Crimea, potentially to prepare these children for future employment in the Russian nuclear energy field.
• Russian occupation officials continue to deport Ukrainian youth to military-patriotic training camps in Russia.
• Russia continues efforts to surveil the population of occupied Ukraine as a means of consolidating control of occupied territories.

A Russian State Duma deputy oversaw the deportation of children from occupied Kherson Oblast to Russia under the guise of escorting them to a rehabilitation program. Anna Kuznetsova, who notably served as Kremlin-appointed Russian Commissioner on Children’s Rights from 2016 to 2021, told Kremlin newswire TASS on July 2 that she took a group of children from occupied Kherson Oblast to the IRIS neuro-rehabilitation center in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai.[1] IRIS General Director Margarita Volyanskaya stated that the children will receive psychological, medical, and social rehabilitation at the center.[2] Kuznetsova told TASS that there are about 500 children from occupied Kherson Oblast who are eligible for similar treatment and that she is working out how to bring them to IRIS. Kuznetsova also noted that she is working on the issue of ensuring the children receive access to education while in Sochi—suggesting that the children will be there for a significant length of time and will be exposed to Russian education while in Sochi. The IRIS center is partnered with the ruling United Russia party and with the “We Don’t Abandon Our Own” fund for Russian veterans.[3] “We Don’t Abandon Our Own” has previously overseen the deportation of children from occupied Luhansk Oblast to Sochi for similar “rehabilitation” schemes, likely at the IRIS center.[4]

ISW has previously reported on Russian efforts to deport Ukrainian children to Russia under the guise of medical or psychological rehabilitation schemes.[5] While some children may indeed receive needed medical or psychological care while at these institutions, Russia is still clearly abrogating its responsibilities as an occupying power by sending these children to medical institutions in Russia, most of which are linked to the Russian government and military. Russia should first and foremost facilitate the transfer of these children back to Ukrainian-controlled territory if they need urgent medical treatment. Russia should also keep records of the children it is taking to Russia for medical treatment, but it has routinely failed to do so. It is unclear on what timeline these children return to Ukraine after treatment.

The new Russian occupation governor of Mariupol announced plans for 2,000 children from occupied Mariupol to attend summer camps in St. Petersburg in 2025. Mariupol occupation governor Anton Koltsov stated on July 6 that 2,000 children from occupied Mariupol will attend the “Druzhnykh” summer camp in Molodyozhnoye, northwest of St. Petersburg.[6] At least 320 children from occupied Mariupol attended “Druzhnykh” in Summer 2024.[7] Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Head Denis Pushilin recently instructed Koltsov to focus on interacting with St. Petersburg as a patron region of Mariupol in his new capacity as Mariupol occupation governor, and ISW has previously reported that patronage links between Russian federal subjects and occupied Ukrainian cities or administrations often correspond with occupation administrations sending children to summer camps or educational programs hosted by said patron region.[8] It is very likely that Koltsov’s administration will keep sending children from Mariupol to “Druzhnykh” and other camps in St. Petersburg in the coming summer months. “Druzhnykh” claims that the goal of its summer programming is “promoting the formation of Russian identity” through teaching children about St. Petersburg.[9] A December 2024 investigation by Russian independent outlet Bumaga, based on interviews with counselors and instructors at “Druzhnyk,” found that while pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian propaganda at the camp is not necessarily explicit or forced, Ukrainian children at the camp “are surrounded by a pro-Russian context and motivated to connect their future to St. Petersburg.”[10] The Bumaga report coheres with ISW’s long-standing assessment on how Russia uses summer camps to Russify Ukrainian children.[11]

Russian nuclear energy operator Rosenergoatom is sponsoring the removal of Ukrainian children to summer camps in occupied Crimea, potentially to prepare these children for future employment in the Russian nuclear energy field. Enerdohar occupation head Maxim Pukhov visited children from occupied Zaporizhia Oblast at the “Mandarin” and “I-Camp” summer camps in occupied Crimea on July 7.[12] Russian outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda’s occupied Zaporizhia Oblast service reported on Pukhov’s visit and noted that Rosenergoatom sponsored 2,000 children from Enerhodar to attend “Mandarin” and “I-Camp” in Summer 2025. Rosenergoatom is the current operator of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), which is located in occupied Enerhodar, and has robust links with the Enerhodar occupation administration.[13] The Enerhodar occupation administration has sent hundreds of children to both “I-Camp” and “Mandarin” with Rosenergoatom’s sponsorship since the full-scale invasion of 2022.[14] Rosenergoatom organized a special science-focused shift for children from occupied Enerhodar in Summer 2024, where children learned technical skills such as computer programming and information technology basics.[15] Rosenergoatom is likely investing in these summer camps in order to encourage youth to think about a future career at the ZNPP with Rosenergoatom, thereby setting multigenerational conditions for Russia’s control over the ZNPP.

Russian occupation officials continue to deport Ukrainian youth to military-patriotic training camps in Russia. Kherson Oblast occupation head Vladimir Saldo reported on July 3 that 50 teenagers from occupied Kherson Oblast are taking part in the third session of the “Time of Young Heroes” program at the “Avangard” military-sports camp in Russia’s Vologograd Oblast.[16] Zaporizhia Oblast occupation head Yevgeny Balitsky claimed that 100 teenagers from occupied Zaporizhia Oblast are also participating in this “Time of Young Heroes” session.[17] Saldo claimed that the “Time of Young Heroes” program shows that “a generation is growing for whom the Motherland [Russia] is the most precious thing.”[18] ISW continues to assess that Russia is using the “Time of Young Heroes” program to indoctrinate Ukrainian children and teenagers and militarize them in order to prepare them for future service in the Russian military.[19] Russian officials who organize the “Time of Young Heroes” program are likely complicit in the crime of deportation of Ukrainian children, as Russian officials are taking Ukrainian children to such camps with the purpose of indoctrinating them and turning them into the next generation of loyal Russians.

Russia continues efforts to surveil the population of occupied Ukraine as a means of consolidating control of occupied territories. Sevastopol occupation governor Mikhail Razvozhaev stated on July 4 that his administration is developing “Safe City,” a “modern public safety system” that will act as Sevastopol’s “digital shield.”[20] Razvozhaev stated that the existing Unified Rapid Response Center and the “Argus” city video surveillance system will unite over 2,000 surveillance cameras as part of the “Safe City” platform. “Safe City” will leverage facial recognition cameras, search and identify suspicious objects, and track car license plates. Crimea occupation governor Sergei Aksyonov previously alluded to “Safe City” in April, when he spoke about the implementation of an “intelligent video surveillance system” throughout occupied Crimea.[21] Russia has gone to great lengths to surveil occupied Crimea in order to discourage dissent and empower Russian security forces to crack down against identified pro-Ukrainian partisan activity.[22] A Ukrainian partisan group similarly reported on July 5 that Russian occupation authorities are forcing residents of occupied Ukraine to use the new Russian MAX messaging platform (the Kremlin’s planned national messenger application), and warned that MAX “functions as spyware” that collects personal information that is then transmitted to Russian security services via servers of the VKontakte (VK) social media platform.[23] Surveillance tools like “Safe City” and Russian-state-controlled software like MAX encourage self-censorship amongst residents of occupied areas, and will likely enable occupation administrations to crack down even harder against perceived dissent or anti-Russian activity.