In occupied Ukraine, Russia is trying to indoctrinate the children it stole

Anastasiia's ordeal with Russian authorities in occupied Ukraine is nothing short of terrifying.

Aged 15 at the time, she was living in a foster home in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson when Russian tanks rolled across the border to start a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Frightened of the shelling near her home, she and a friend decided to leave, but their plan unravelled when they encountered Russian soldiers.

"We were stopped at a checkpoint," she said, adding the soldiers told them "we were dangerous to their state".

After that, Anastasiia was enrolled in a college, where she says she was exposed to Russian re-education and indoctrination.

At one point, Russia's children's rights commissioner, Maria Lvova Belova, even toured the school and offered study opportunities near Moscow or the chance to join the country's young army cadets.

During this time, Anastasiia, who is now 19, says she was shunted between Russian foster families in occupied Ukraine.

The ABC has chosen not to publish Anastasiia's full name, in order to protect her identity.

At the second home she stayed in, she says she was physically harmed.

"They beat me there. They humiliated me and told me my mother wouldn't take me back from occupied territory," she said.

Getting a glimpse of what life is like inside Russian-occupied Ukraine is virtually impossible.

People are terrified to speak out, fearing retribution from Russian authorities.

Kherson was captured by Russian troops in March 2022, early in the full-scale invasion. Ukraine liberated it again about seven months later, but many children had already been taken further behind the front lines by Russian authorities.

Anastasiia has been able to share her story because she's now safely in Ukraine's capital after a daring escape.

But there are plenty more stories just like hers. About 1.6 million Ukrainian children are estimated to be growing up under occupation, where newly installed Russian occupation authorities have rolled out indoctrination programs and military training.

The United Nations concluded in 2025 that Russia is committing crimes against humanity in occupied regions of Ukraine in a widespread and systematic manner against the civilian population.

Loading...Russia trying 'to destroy Ukraine as sovereign state'

Prominent Ukrainian human rights lawyer Kateryna Rashevska is gathering evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity from those who have lived under Russian control.

Her team then takes the cases to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has already issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ms Lvova Belova over the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.

Ms Rashevska has dozens of cases on the go, but the one she chooses to share reveals the extent of Russia's plan.

The mother of a young boy in Kherson was told her parental rights would be taken away if her son didn't participate in Russian military training for children.

"So, this family was persecuted just because he was not loyal at this very young age to the occupying power," Ms Rashevska said.

"This is discrimination. Also, many different violations of the rights of the child," she said.

The indoctrination and military training started soon after Russia's invasion when the boy was just eight.

But Ms Rashevska said that, since Moscow installed its own authorities in these regions, such activities now started in kindergarten.

"They would like to have young adults prepared physically and mentally to serve to the new motherland, to Russia," she said.

"The fact that we have hundreds or even thousands of the same cases in occupation, we will be able to prove a crime against humanity … [this is] the policy of the Russian Federation."

Ms Rashevska said given the "scale" and "organised nature" of Moscow's intentions to eradicate Ukrainian culture, she believed the crimes could amount to genocide.

"The main goal … is to destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state and to subjugate everything remaining from the Ukrainian nation to Russian influence and control," she said.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News the front lines should be frozen where they are as part of an immediate ceasefire.

Then, he said, more substantial peace negotiations could take place.

As part of its demands to end the war, Russia has consistently demanded Ukraine give it territory it has been unable to capture since its full-scale invasion.

Kyiv, meanwhile, has consistently refused to entertain any peace process that would see it cede land to Moscow.

'We dropped everything and left'

In July 2022, just months after the war started, Dmytro Lubinets was appointed Ukraine's ombudsman for human rights.

Much of his workday is now dedicated to efforts to return Ukrainian children taken by Russia, and gathering evidence to prosecute the cases.

He said, from the evidence they're gathering from witness testimony, life under occupation is repressive.

"Every child now must have … Russian documents, passports, certificate of birth, educational documents, medical documents, everything," he told the ABC.

"Every Ukrainian child must … identify themselves as the Russians.

"And everyone who [is] against this position, according to Russian position, must be killed … including Ukrainian children."

Escaping occupation can be risky and in some cases deadly for those who try.

Ukrainians must pass through myriad checkpoints, with the risk of being stopped and interrogated or arrested at any one of them.

In some cases, people have disappeared. For two years, foster mother Ludmilla made plans to leave her village near the front line in the occupied Kherson region.

She described living in a constant state of fear as drones flew overhead, and the sound of incoming and outgoing fire made her head feel like it was "caving in".

But she only took the risk to escape when her teenage foster sons received pre-conscription letters at school.

"They were given questionnaires at school. From there, they took them to the military enlistment office. Maybe they would have held them if they were 18, but they aren't yet.

"We dropped everything and left. We decided to leave so that they wouldn't take the children," she said.

It's not safe for Ludmilla to reveal her identity because she still has family living under Russian occupation.

Ludmilla ends her interview by describing the beauty of her hometown and remains fully intent on returning once the war is over.

But in reality, the future of Ukraine's occupied territories remains a significant point of contention and whether Kyiv ever gets them back is a big unknown.

Ms Rashevska knows she can't control the future of Ukraine's occupied territories but she's working to make sure children trapped there know someone's fighting for their future.

"To abduct children, it is … a way to tell that: 'You don't exist and you will never exist. We are abducting your future'," Ms Rashevska said.

"What we are fighting for is for the absence of war for these children, for the chance for them not to fight in future," she said.