Ukrainian children trapped in Russian-occupied territories face a new wave of Kremlin propaganda after Moscow approved a mandatory federal list of school textbooks, including a distorted regional history book targeted at children aged 10 to 14.
The new course, titled History of Our Region: Donbas and Novorossiya, has been forced onto pupils in Years 5 to 7 across the occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Human rights experts and intelligence officials warn that the indoctrination scheme is designed to cut young Ukrainians off from their homeland and prime them to eventually fight for Putin's army against their own country.
The propaganda materials are slated for delivery to classrooms in occupied zones starting in September.
Russian Minister Defends Textbooks
Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov claimed the course provides "objective" history and forms part of a "unified Russia," insisting it holds "real information" compared to Ukrainian educational materials.
Moscow has weaponised the classroom to wipe out Ukrainian culture since launching its full-scale invasion. In May 2026, a Year 9 social studies textbook edited by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, included maps falsely claiming that liberated Ukrainian cities like Kherson belong to Russia.
Standardised textbooks edited by Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky have already been deployed to justify Russia's military aggression.
Destruction of Ukrainian Textbooks
Massive Russian attacks on Ukrainian printing plants and warehouses have destroyed nearly 1.2 million legitimate school textbooks. The biggest losses have affected textbook print runs for students in Years 4 and 9, aged approximately 9-10 and 14-15, respectively. Almost 45,000 textbooks for pupils in Years 6 and 7 were also destroyed, representing 6% of their print run.
As early as September 2022, Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of teaching a Kremlin-approved version of history, saying many children in eastern Ukraine did not know that Ukraine and Russia had once been part of the same country. He said it was important that schools in Russia and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine teach the Moscow-approved curriculum, which largely disavows Ukraine's sovereignty and history as an independent nation since 1991.
That same month, the Kremlin pushed for schools to be more patriotic, forcing pupils to start the week with flag-raising ceremonies and playing the national anthem.
