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Updated Resources - September 11, 2024
As part of his working trip to Kharkiv region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy familiarized himself with the organization of schoolchildren's education at the Universytet metro station in Kharkiv. (President Of Ukraine from Україна, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Kyiv Independent: Newsfeed
Novaya Gazeta Europe: Newsfeed
The Insider: Newsfeed
The Telegraph via Apple Podcasts - Ukraine: The Latest
Kyiv, Ukraine: Leaders of world nations, representatives of foreign governments and parliaments, international human rights advocates, as well as public and cultural figures, participated in the inaugural meeting of the International Coalition of Countries for the Return of Ukrainian Children both in person and via video links. (President Of Ukraine from Україна, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
WHAT'S ON OUR MIND
In addition to our weekly resource update, today we also offer an updated collection of pieces on the Israeli-Hamas war.
The vital spirit of childhood and the brutality of war are incongruous - two worlds that should never collide. And yet, in nearly all conflicts, this collision is inescapable. It’s more comfortable, and often second nature, to consider war’s ramifications for adults, but a holistic understanding accounts for its impact on future generations as well, underpinning the senseless and unacceptable nature of this violence. In today’s resource update, we delve into war through the eyes of its youngest witnesses. Find also the latest on the Kursk incursion, as well as news of a consequential leadership shakeup in Ukraine.
Novaya Gazeta Europe shares the stories of teens from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, forced to emigrate with their families to flee fighting, imprisonment, or persecution, and who now begin their new school year far from home. In the Kyiv Post, we learn how new Polish legislation mandating education for refugee children may impact enrollment figures and the children they represent.
We return to Ukraine with pieces from The Insider and The Washington Post detailing the challenging and unorthodox classroom experiences of the children in war-ravaged Kharkiv, who attend school in subway stations and newly built subterranean structures. In the occupied territories, Meduza relates the precariousness of families whose students still secretly attend Ukrainian schools. Across the border, the former publication examines the Russian Education Ministry’s system of ‘re-education’ imposed on Ukrainian children who have been forcibly deported to Russia.
Desk Russie analyzes this state-enforced displacement of Ukrainian citizens that has impacted thousands of unaccompanied minors and teens. Another piece from Meduza digs into the ‘adoption’ of some of these children into Russian families, including the compulsory preparatory training that hosts must participate in before a child is placed in their home. Kyiv Post reports that Ukrainian intelligence has built a database of those Russians - and Ukrainians - involved in the deportation process.
Beyond the Ukrainian children who have been taken from their families of origin, we learn in the Kyiv Independent how those who have lost their parents permanently to the war cope. The United Nations offers an overview of the war’s ongoing impact on children’s rights in Ukraine. A ray of bittersweet hope appears in The Conversation in a piece detailing children's authors' and publishers' efforts to provide context and hope through storytelling.Â
In Russia, the Center for European Policy Analysis examines how the Ministry of Education attempts to secure the support of young people through new curriculum measures educating pupils on the ‘special military operation,’ Russian ‘wartime heroic deeds,’ and ‘spiritual-moral values, including service to the Fatherland’. This approach continues even after the school year ends in The Insider’s piece covering the recent surge in popularity of ‘military-patriotic’ summer camps for Russian children. Russia.Post continues this exploration of indoctrination methods, including increasingly imposed ideological restrictions on book publishing and lending.
We conclude with an examination of both anti- and pro-war Russian youth. A piece from Meduza examines the growing number of Russian teens imprisoned on sabotage charges, an apparent effort to push back against the authorities’ indoctrination methods. Amnesty International shares a public statement on the ‘equal but opposite’ force of Russian authorities’ crackdown on anti-war dissent, that not only includes adult activists but also targets children who resist. Across ideological lines, a piece in Russian Life shares the trend of volunteerism among pro-war youth that exists in stark contrast. Â
In the overview, a historical perspective on Russian and Soviet occupations that may bode poorly for negotiations in today’s war. In videos, a full-length Frontline documentary chronicling the search for Ukraine’s missing children. Find also a conversation among scholars regarding Kazakhstan's balancing act on war's periphery.
In the arts, a street artist documents the war through mural, a Russian documentary about its troops is met with backlash on the festival circuit, a graphic novel blurs the lines between history and journalism, poetry and patriotism, and the Kursk incursion already on exhibit at a Kyiv museum.
Find these stories - as well as coverage of recent disinformation campaigns and leadership shakeups - on today’s Russia-Ukraine resource update. Visit our blog for fresh resources on the Israel-Hamas War, as well as the most recent reflections from our network on the ground in Israel.
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