Russia gives Ukrainian kids military training and reeducation, Yale researchers find

""They're giving them actual training in grenade throwing and, in one case we know they're involved in the manufacture of drones," Nathaniel Raymond, the lab's director, said in an interview with NPR. Russian authorities "are not taking them to paratrooper jump school to make them mall cops at the Cinnabon at Rostov-on-Don," Raymond said, referring to a major regional city in Russia's south. "They are in a training pipeline that has tactical scenarios and curricula that lead only to one conclusion.""

""The report documents 210 locations — 156 of them newly identified — across Russia and occupied Ukraine where Ukrainian children ages 8 to 17 have been taken. Investigators found evidence of reeducation at 62% of sites, and military training at 19%. The study also says there are signs that roughly a quarter of the facilities have been expanded since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.""

Russia's network includes 210 locations—156 newly identified—across Russia and occupied Ukraine where Ukrainian children ages 8 to 17 have been taken. Reeducation is documented at 62% of sites, and military training is documented at 19% of sites. Roughly a quarter of the facilities show signs of expansion since Russia's February 2022 full-scale invasion. The network stretches more than 3,500 miles from the Black Sea to Siberia and includes two new cadet schools and a monastery. Children have been stripped of cultural identity, taught Russian patriotic narratives, instructed in grenade throwing, and in at least one case involved in drone manufacture.

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