Yunarmiya and Yunkor: how the occupiers are militarising Ukrainian children
Journalist Marian Chupak spoke about the methods used to ‘reprogram’ young people, based on the findings of an investigation by Channel 24.
Methods of influence and the effectiveness of propaganda
The ‘Yunarmiya’ organisation has become a key instrument of influence, having been involved in the militarisation of teenagers since 2016. The occupiers are training them to become personnel for their own army: as of 2025, around 12,000 members of the movement have already joined the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces. In addition to military training, there is the ‘Yunkor’ programme, where children are taught to create propaganda content following the Kremlin’s blueprint.
Investigative journalist Marian Chupak highlights the danger of such specialisation:
“The ‘Yunkor’ programme is not just training soldiers, but future Solovyovs and Simonyans who will broadcast the Kremlin’s propaganda.”
At special media forums, teenagers listen to lectures by heroes of the so-called ‘Special Military Operation’ and learn to copy the methods of Russian war correspondents. An example of this influence is the story of Katya from occupied Henichesk, who began recording videos in support of Putin after the Russians arrived. Journalists note that hate speech is actively propagated in closed courses for young correspondents. Teenagers are taught to refer to the Ukrainian army as a ‘plague’ that must be destroyed, which effectively cuts them off from their homeland.
Marian Chupak notes that time is working against us, and the longer children remain under occupation, the deeper their isolation from the Ukrainian information sphere becomes. Restoring critical thinking among young people will be one of the most difficult tasks following the de-occupation of the territories.
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