ISW: Russia Uses “Holiday” Programs to Russify Children from Occupied Ukrainian Territories

ISW analyzes the movement of 120 students and 12 teachers from Mariupol to Saint Petersburg, reported by Russian media on October 28, as part of a cultural integration mechanism. Separately, the occupation administration in Donetsk announced nearly 6,000 participants in programs outside the controlled territory. The post cited by ISW is from October 21, not November 2. The total is not an independent record of deportations to Russia or of children who did not return.

Russia uses programs presented as vacations to integrate children from occupied Ukrainian territories into its cultural and social sphere, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) states in an analysis published on November 6, 2026. The report also examines the movement of 120 students and 12 teachers from Mariupol to Saint Petersburg, announced by local Russian television on October 28. The report documents the group’s arrival and the planned activities, but does not individually establish the conditions of the trip or the children’s return.

In brief

1. Russian local media announced on October 28, 2026, the arrival of 120 students and 12 teachers from Mariupol in Saint Petersburg for an educational and recreational program. The return of each child is not documented in that report.

2. ISW considers “vacation” programs, organized through patronage ties between Russian regions and occupied localities, to be instruments for integrating children into the Russian cultural sphere. This is the institute’s assessment, distinct from an individual judicial finding.

3. The figure of nearly 6,000 participants comes from a post by the occupation administration dated October 21, cited by ISW with the date November 2. It refers to programs outside the controlled territory, without a list of destinations, children, or returns; it cannot be added to the group from Mariupol.

4. In March 2026, the Commission of Inquiry mandated by the UN Human Rights Council had verified the deportation or transfer of more than 1,200 children. The proportion of 80% of children not returned refers only to the cases documented by it, not to the groups described in October.

5. On September 28, the EU Council sanctioned another 10 individuals and 17 entities for deportation, forced transfer, and assimilation, including through camps and educational programs. These are measures preceding the ISW report, not a new European response to it.

The students were welcomed at Moskovsky railway station for the autumn stage of the “Petersburg Holidays” program, organized under the theme “Guardians of Cultural Heritage.” According to Saint Petersburg television, visits to the Russian Museum and the Ethnographic Museum, creative workshops, games, and sports activities were planned. At the end, the children were to make an animated film together with the center’s specialists. ISW describes a one-week program; however, the announcement of its duration does not constitute confirmation that each participant returned.

The program for children from Mariupol has operated since the summer of 2022, at the invitation of Governor Aleksandr Beglov, according to the Russian report. Mariupol, a Ukrainian city occupied by Russia, has a patronage relationship with Saint Petersburg, through which the Russian city’s administration supports activities in the occupied locality. ISW considers that such ties provide the authorities with a mechanism for repeatedly organizing trips, rather than merely the framework for an isolated excursion.

In the assessment of the American institute, exposure to Russian traditions, institutions, and cultural references seeks to create in children a sense of belonging to Russia. ISW describes these programs as instruments of “temporary deportation” and integration into the Russian sphere of influence. The organizers present them as recreational and educational activities. The designation used by the institute is an open-source-based assessment, not a court ruling concerning the situation of each child in the group that arrived on October 28.

A second piece of information in the report concerns the scale of programs organized by the administration installed by Russia in the Donetsk region. A message published on its official Telegram channel on October 21 states that nearly 6,000 children participated in activities outside the territory it calls the “DNR.” The statement is attributed to Larisa Tolstykina, deputy prime minister in the occupation administration, and presents the results of the 2026 summer campaign.

The message mentions federal children’s centers, support from Russian regions that sponsor occupied localities, and educational or recreational and health-related projects. It also announces the start of preparations for the 2027 summer campaign. Although ISW dates the statement to November 2, the post cited in its footnote is dated October 21. The figure was therefore circulating before November and does not represent a new statistic published together with the analysis.

The occupation administration’s wording provides neither a list of destinations nor an individual record of the children. ISW interprets the programs as trips to Russia, but the post does not allow verification that all of the nearly 6,000 participants reached the Russian Federation, that the total counts different children, or how many returned. It also does not show whether the group from Mariupol is included in that tally. The two figures cannot be added to calculate a total number of deportations.

ISW links these programs to changes in education in the occupied territories. The report analyzes the introduction of history textbooks reflecting Russian state narratives and the expansion of military-patriotic activities for young people. In this interpretation, the trips and education are part of a long-term policy to distance children from Ukrainian identity and integrate them into Russian sociocultural structures.

Separately, there are findings from an international investigation concerning the deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children. On March 12, 2026, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, concluded that Russian authorities had committed crimes against humanity through the deportation and forced transfer of children and through associated enforced disappearances.

The Commission had verified the deportation or transfer of more than 1,200 children from five Ukrainian regions. According to the tally presented at the time, 80% of the children in the documented cases had not been returned. Investigators described legislative and administrative measures that facilitated long-term placement in families or institutions and made identification and reunification with families more difficult. These findings concern the cases investigated by the Commission; the 80% proportion cannot be applied to the group of 120 students or to the participants in the Donetsk administration’s tally.

In its statement of March 12 to the UN Human Rights Council, the European Union called for an end to deportations, forced transfers, and illegal adoptions, the immediate and safe return of children, and an end to their indoctrination and militarization. On September 28, the EU Council sanctioned another 10 individuals and 17 entities for their alleged roles in deportation, forced transfer, and assimilation. The list includes camps, sports centers, and organizations conducting cultural reorientation and military-patriotic education activities. The measures entail asset freezes and, for individuals, travel bans to the EU. They predate the ISW analysis from November.

Assessing each movement requires information about the family’s situation, the consent of parents or legal representatives, the conditions and duration of the stay, applicable protections, and the actual possibility of return. Presenting a program as a vacation does not remove an occupying power’s obligations toward children. In the case reported in Saint Petersburg and the tally of nearly 6,000 participants, public sources describe the mechanism and the announced activities, but do not provide the individual records necessary to establish the situation of all the children.