Children forced to wear Russian flags in occupied Ukrainian schools – says CEO of Save Ukraine NGO

Ukraine returned four more Ukrainian children with families from temporarily occupied territories; they told NGO about their experience under Russian occupation The post Children forced to wear Russian flags in occupied Ukrainian schools – says CEO of Save Ukraine NGO appeared first on Euromaidan Press.

Nov 16, 2023 - 06:40
Children forced to wear Russian flags in occupied Ukrainian schools – says CEO of Save Ukraine NGO

Ukraine has returned four more Ukrainian children with their families from the temporarily occupied territories, said the head of the Save Ukraine NGO.

According to the founder of Save Ukraine, Mykola Kuleba, during the last school year, two of these children studied at a Ukrainian school online while their village was constantly being raided by Russian soldiers.

“During such classes, the young Ukrainians’ mother looked out the window and made sure that Russian soldiers did not break into the house. Eventually, the Russian military began to threaten the parents that they would take their children, take away their house, and deport them. Therefore, the family was forced to send their children to a Russian school,” Kuleba wrote.

As reported, at school, the Ukrainian children from newly Russian-occupied territories were obliged to wrap themselves in the Russian flag and wear it until the end of the lessons. When some children got tired and asked to take it off, the teacher agreed. However, a moment later, an armed Russian soldier scolded the children for “not loving Russia,” according to Kuleba.

“In the school corridors, children constantly saw such soldiers with weapons standing outside the classrooms and taking 10-year-old Ukrainians for ‘educational conversations’ for carelessly saying ‘please’ in class,” founder of Save Ukraine NGO added.

Kuleba also said that the families have already crossed the border of Ukraine and are safe now. They will also receive psychological recovery.

Recently Ukraine has returned three more children to Ukraine from Russia-occupied territories, Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said.

In total, the Save Ukraine NGO’s team has returned 204 children from Russia and the temporarily occupied territories.

Read also:

You could close this page. Or you could join our community and help us produce more materials like this.  We keep our reporting open and accessible to everyone because we believe in the power of free information. This is why our small, cost-effective team depends on the support of readers like you to bring deliver timely news, quality analysis, and on-the-ground reports about Russia's war against Ukraine and Ukraine's struggle to build a democratic society. A little bit goes a long way: for as little as the cost of one cup of coffee a month, you can help build bridges between Ukraine and the rest of the world, plus become a co-creator and vote for topics we should cover next. Become a patron or see other ways to support. Become a Patron!

The post Children forced to wear Russian flags in occupied Ukrainian schools – says CEO of Save Ukraine NGO appeared first on Euromaidan Press.