Imagine a child in military uniform.

A rifle in their hands. A military instructor standing nearby.

The child is not even sixteen — yet they are being taught how to fight.

This is not a story from Soviet times. It’s the grim reality faced by Ukrainian children who ended up under occupation or were forcibly taken to Russia and occupied Crimea.

Every third child rescued by Save Ukraine has told us the same: they were forced to attend military training classes — learning to handle weapons, march in formation, and sing military songs.

These are not isolated cases. This is a systematic practice, a deliberate part of the Kremlin’s propaganda aimed at turning children into “little soldiers.”

We know this not from official documents, but from the children themselves — from their words, their memories, their fear.

All of their testimonies are gathered in our new report, prepared by Save Ukraine together with War Child UK.

📖 Read the full report here.