Children in one of the schools in occupied Sevastopol are being militarized by Russian militant Pavel Klyasyuk

In the schools of the temporarily occupied Sevastopol, lessons on “Basics of Security and Defense of the Motherland” and “Labor (Technology)” will be illegally taught according to a new Russian curriculum with the participation of military personnel involved in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the pro-Russian media on the peninsula.

Russian serviceman Pavel Klyasyuk gives a lesson to students in temporarily occupied Sevastopol. Photo: from Russian media

At School No. 39, lessons are conducted by Pavel Klyasyuk, a participant in the war against Ukraine. After his service, he promotes war among Ukrainian children, specifically teaching military and tactical skills.

Judging by open-source data, Klyasyuk tried to enter politics through membership in the pro-Putin “United Russia” party. At the same time, the man’s name could not be found among the known suspects in Ukraine involved in the militarization of minors. 

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According to the occupation authorities of Sevastopol, the practical classes involving Klyasyuk “help high school students choose professions.” In fact, they once again confirm the systematic nature of the militarization of children under occupation.

Occupying officials specified that they will modify school equipment in the city for militarization until 2028.

To provide background, 1.6 million Ukrainian children might have remained under Russian occupation. Their militarization intensified with the start of the full-scale war, although it has been ongoing in Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions since 2014. 

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Lessons based on a manual containing Vladimir Putin’s justifications for the war began to be held for schoolchildren in the Russian Federation and on the temporarily occupied territories almost the day after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine started; also, terrorists from the “Wagner” PMC are brought to classes for children in Russia, and “museums” of the invasion are being opened in institutions where authorities ordered the display of mock-ups of real weapons. Such practices are being extended to occupied Ukrainian territories as well.

In December 2025, the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea named the key Russian and occupation agencies responsible for the deportation of Ukrainian children.

The UN has already called on the Russian authorities not to militarize childhood.

Read more about the militarisation of Ukrainian children on occupied territories by Russian authorities in reports of the Crimean human rights non-government organization “Almenda”.