Russian authorities in occupied Ukraine are forcing students to make trench candles as part of their curriculum, Ukraine's Chief Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on April 23.
In a post on Facebook, Lubinets said the manual labor was being presented as a "public initiative" but said it was just one of many measures used to prepare students for "war against their Homeland."
Ukrainian children in occupied territories face efforts to suppress their identity in "re-education camps" and Russian foster families, as well as training in military camps, Ukrainian officials have previously reported.
A trench candle is a small heating and cooking device made from a food can, strips of cardboard, and paraffin wax.
Lubinets said Russian authorities in the occupied territories had told education leaders that all students be taught how to make them.
"All actions of the enemy are aimed at erasing the identity of Ukrainian children," the ombudsman said.
"And the world community must react to such actions of the Russian Federation."
In February, Ukraine's National Resistance Center reported that Russia is establishing military camps for Ukrainian teenagers in the Russian-occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Moscow plans to open a "center for military-sports training and patriotic education of youth called 'Warrior' based on the 'Iskra' children's health camp," the National Resistance Center said in its Feb. 8 report.
Teenagers will allegedly be taught firearms and engineering training.
The center said this is "preparation for service in the Russian army."
Martin Fornusek
