Russian Occupation Update, August 12, 2025

Authors: Karolina Hird, Zachary Yacht, and Andrew Raynus

Data cut off: 1 pm ET, August 11

ISW's Russian Occupation Update tracks the activities that occur in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. The occupation updates will examine Russian efforts to consolidate administrative control of annexed areas and forcibly integrate Ukrainian citizens into Russian sociocultural, economic, military, and governance systems. This product line replaces the section of the daily Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment covering activities in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
 
To read ISW’s assessment of how Russian activities in occupied areas of Ukraine are part of a coerced Russification and ethnic cleansing campaign, click here.

NOTE: ISW will be temporarily reducing the publication cadence of the Russian Occupation Update to a once-weekly product and will not publish on Thursday, August 14. The next Russian Occupation Update will be published on Thursday, August 21.

Key Takeaways:

• Russia may be decentralizing adoption programs for Ukrainian children in a manner that will complicate Ukraine’s efforts to track and repatriate its children.
• The emergence of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) Ministry of Education and Science-run adoption database listing Ukrainian children is an inflection compared to previous Russian efforts to centralize and streamline adoption processes under the federal database.
• Russian government ministries are paying to send Ukrainian children to Russian summer camps, museums, and national parks, likely as part of the broader Russian effort to use such programs to instill pro-Russian sentiments in Ukrainian children.
• The Donetsk Oblast occupation administration is preparing to leverage Ukrainian youth into reconstruction projects in order to offset labor costs and build youth buy-in for the occupation.
• Russia is using the new “Align with Heroes” program to further its efforts to indoctrinate and militarize children in occupied Crimea.
• Russia continues to use oblast-level offshoots of the federal Time of Heroes program to curate a loyal and military-minded civil servant class in occupied Ukraine.

Russia may be decentralizing adoption programs for Ukrainian children in a manner that will complicate Ukraine’s efforts to track and repatriate its children. Occupied Luhansk Oblast-based media reported on August 7 that the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) Ministry of Education and Science launched an electronic database of 294 children “left without parental care.”[1] The LNR database includes pictures of the children, as well as options for people using the database to search for children based on their gender, hair color, eye color, and whether they have siblings.[2] The database describes each child’s personality and overall health, and includes infants under a year old. Russia has routinely used similar databases since its initial 2014 invasion of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts to list Ukrainian children who are up for adoption.[3] The practice of using Russian government-run adoption databases continued and intensified following the 2022 full-scale invasion, as found in investigations by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (YHLR) and the Financial Times (FT).[4]

Russian officials previously appeared to be taking steps to centralize and consolidate information about Ukrainian children into the federal adoption database. Russian officials set up a headquarters to “unify the legislation of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics with the legislation of the Russian Federation on issues of guardianship, trusteeship, and the adoption of children” in May 2022 in order to streamline and centralize adoption procedures happening within occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts with federally mandated adoption procedures.[5] Kremlin-appointed Commissioner on Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova announced in March 2023, for example, that the children’s database of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) would connect to the federal children’s database.[6] Russia founded the pre-existing “Deti Donbassa” (Children of Donbas) adoption database for occupied Donetsk Oblast in 2016, which listed similar personal information on Ukrainian children in order to facilitate their adoption.[7] Ukrainian investigative organization KiBorg hacked the Deti Donbassa database in 2023 and confirmed that Russian families living within Russia adopted several Ukrainian children from Mariupol.[8] Authorities in Luhansk Oblast also took steps to centralize and consolidate adoption databases in 2024 — the LNR Ministry of Labor and Social Development confirmed that it was transferring data on orphaned children to the LNR Ministry of Education as of June 6, 2024.[9]

The emergence of the LNR Ministry of Education and Science-run adoption database is an inflection compared to previous Russian efforts to centralize and streamline adoption processes under the federal database. The LNR Ministry of Education and Science is a subordinate entity to the Russian Federal Ministry of Education and therefore would only be able to launch and maintain the adoption database with explicit permission and guidance from the federal ministry. The advertisement of this database in Russian media therefore suggests that this is a distinct, federally approved initiative. This database introduces more uncertainty into efforts to identify, track, and eventually repatriate the children listed on the LNR Education Ministry site, as it is much more difficult to determine the origins of the listed children. The LNR-specific database may also make it more difficult to determine where the children are sent to upon adoption, as individuals and families living within Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders could feasibly adopt or foster some portion of the children. The emergence of similar adoption databases in occupied Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts will be a leading indicator that Russia is attempting to break adoption databases and processes away from the federal center. ISW has not yet observed evidence of such other databases at the time of this writing, however. ISW has long assessed that Russian efforts to adopt Ukrainian children into Russian families constitute potential violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.[10]

Russian government ministries are paying to send Ukrainian children to Russian summer camps, museums, and national parks, likely as part of the broader Russian effort to use such programs to instill pro-Russian sentiments in Ukrainian children. The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Ministry of Energy have all sponsored trips for children from occupied Ukraine to go to museums, summer camps, and national parks throughout the Russian Federation. The Russian Ministry of Energy claimed on August 6 that 150 children from occupied Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast, visited Moscow and Tver oblasts, including the “Victory Museum” and other World War II monuments.[11] The occupied Kherson Oblast-based branch of Russian outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda claimed on August 7 that the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology sponsored a trip for a group of schoolchildren from occupied Kherson Oblast to attend an ecological camp at “Smolenskoye Poozerye“ in Smolensk Oblast, following a prior trip to the Ugra National Park in Kaluga Oblast.[12][13] The Russian Ministry of Defense organized 300 Ukrainian children from occupied Donetsk Oblast to take part in military-patriotic summer camps in Omsk Oblast in the summer of 2022, including at the Omsk Pedagogical University, 'Storm' martial arts school, “Russia, my history” historical park, and the Patriot Park of the Omsk Armored Engineering Institute.[14] The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs organized a visit for 20 Ukrainian children to Kostroma City in June 2023 to meet with police officers and visit the Ipatiev monastery.[15] Russian ministries likely sponsor trips for Ukrainian children in order to introduce them to Russian history and culture and to normalize the movement of Ukrainian children across international borders into Russia. ISW has previously written about Russian efforts to use educational and cultural programs in Russia as a means of cultural indoctrination.[16][17] The fact that federal ministries fund these field trips indicates that this policy is top-down rather than bottom-up, suggesting that such programs are the result of Kremlin directives.

The Donetsk Oblast occupation administration is preparing to leverage Ukrainian youth into reconstruction projects in order to offset labor costs and build youth buy-in for the occupation. Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Head Denis Pushilin claimed on August 7 that Donetsk Oblast occupation authorities are using the Russian Student Brigades organization to increase the rate of infrastructure construction in occupied Donetsk Oblast.[18] The Russian Student Brigades is an all-Russian public youth organization in which students participate in labor across multiple economic sectors, including healthcare, teaching, farming, and construction across Russia.[19] Its predecessor was the Soviet-era All-Union Student Construction Brigades. Pushilin announced on August 7 that he signed an agreement in June to bring young people from around Russia to “revive” occupied Donetsk Oblast at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Such student brigades are involved in the construction of a youth center in occupied Donetsk City, as well as in the healthcare, agriculture, and education industries. Teenagers aged 14 and above will have the opportunity to do an internship in departments of the Donetsk Oblast occupation government or enterprises.[20] The Donetsk Oblast occupation administration will provide assistance to employers who create jobs for students.

Russia is likely using the Russian Student Brigades, as it uses other similar youth-focused military-patriotic and civic engagement programs, as a method of indoctrinating Ukrainian youth and preparing them for a life of service to the Russian occupation apparatus. Ostensibly voluntary youth labor also fulfills an important economic requirement for Russia, as it allows the occupation administration to offload some of the economic costs of rebuilding occupied areas onto both Ukrainian and Russian youth. The Donetsk Oblast occupation authority is constantly repairing infrastructure, including roads, power lines, and social facilities, in order to rebuild areas of the oblast that Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine has severely damaged. Russian occupation administrations will involve youth brigades to carry out repair work for free. The Ukrainian Resistance Center condemned the news of youth brigades as a revival of the “Soviet practice of forced labor of minors.”[21] The Donetsk Oblast occupation administration will likely increase the pace of infrastructure construction using youth brigades in order to portray occupied Donetsk Oblast as better off under Russian occupation, while involving young people to further indoctrinate and militarize them by involving them with Russian state organs.

Russia is using the new “Align with Heroes” program to further its efforts to indoctrinate and militarize children in occupied Crimea. Sevastopol occupation governor Mikhail Razvozhaev claimed on August 7 that the Sevastopol Committee of Families of Soldiers of the Fatherland announced that the "Align with Heroes” program started taking applications.[22] ”Align with Heroes” will have psychologists and Russian veterans teach children of soldiers who fought in the Russian military against Ukraine, aged 12-16, military disciplines and important everyday skills.[23] The children will participate in team games, classes on shooting and medicine, excursions, and psychological training.[24] Russia has forcibly mobilized large portions of the population in occupied Crimea to fight in the Russian military, and a portion of the children of veterans in occupied Crimea are likely children of forcibly mobilized servicemembers.[25] The “Align with Heroes” program is consistent with other programs that ISW has observed that intend to prepare children in occupied areas for future service in the Russian military by exposing them to military training and military-patriotic ideologies.

Russia continues to use oblast-level offshoots of the federal Time of Heroes program to curate a loyal and military-minded civil servant class in occupied Ukraine. Kherson Oblast occupation governor Vladimir Saldo claimed on August 6 that his administration is launching the “Heroes of Kherson: All Our Own” project as a continuation of the ongoing “Heroes of Kherson Oblast” program, an offshoot of Time of Heroes.[26] The “Heroes of Kherson: All Our Own” project is a competition for Russian veterans that gives finalists the opportunity to study at a Russian university.[27] The Kherson Oblast occupation administration claimed on August 7 that occupation administration employees are also eligible for the project, which will begin at the end of October.[28] Occupation authorities are also involving Time of Heroes participants in a wider variety of administrative roles in occupied Ukraine. Crimea occupation head Sergei Aksyonov claimed on August 7 that participants in the Time of Heroes occupied Crimea-based offshoot “Heroes of Crimea” will form management teams for government bodies, enterprises, and organizations.[29] ISW previously assessed that the installation of Russian veterans into occupation administrations supports Russian efforts to militarize and strengthen control over occupied Ukraine. The increased responsibility and wider variety of roles for veterans and the continuation of oblast-level offshoots demonstrate that Russia is further accelerating these goals.

[1] https://www.lugansk dot kp.ru/online/news/6508253/

[2] Original source not included to protect the identities of listed minors, https://x.com/MykolaKuleba/status/1953418682710868476

[3] https://kiborg dot news/2023/08/23/baza-danyh-dity-donbasu-hto-prychetnyy-do-vykraden-ditey-u-mariupoli/

[4] https://www.ft.com/content/2d0013d2-a407-449f-b1e2-3d14fe65188f?accessToken=zwAAAZiLQcZekc8tABPSpAdEn9Ox4j0U_mUYjw.MEQCIEiXJmer7qwpIh_8cPpzkeDgjGaG5-m98-oMAhuk2prrAiAT0nie0hUP0Mv3N_P10vPRny9JfxuakC3K-MZsTZPJXQ&segmentId=e95a9ae7-622c-6235-5f87-51e412b47e97&shareType=enterprise&shareId=57a3959f-8cd3-4f12-a73f-bf15dba6a390; https://files-profile.medicine.yale.edu/documents/5444c3da-1285-489e-926a-b6d5cfb699a2

[5] https://deti dot gov.ru/Press-Centr/news/930?ysclid=lxxbno57mb437619090

[6] https://ria dot ru/20230328/deti-1861396458.html

[7] https://kiborg dot news/2023/08/23/baza-danyh-dity-donbasu-hto-prychetnyy-do-vykraden-ditey-u-mariupoli/

[8] https://kiborg dot news/2023/08/23/baza-danyh-dity-donbasu-hto-prychetnyy-do-vykraden-ditey-u-mariupoli/

[9] https://mintrud dot lpr-reg.ru/deti/8220-vazhnaya-informaciya.html

[10] https://isw.pub/RusCampaignAugust23; https://isw.pub/UkrWar102622; https://isw.pub/UkrWar111222

[11] https://www.donetsk.kp dot ru/daily/27735/5124287/?from=smreg 

[12] https://www.herson.kp dot ru/online/news/6509087/ 

[13] https://t.me/VGA_Kherson/32562)

[14] https://omskgazzeta dot ru/all-news/v-omsk-privezli-detej-iz-dnr-ih-poseljat-v-kadetskom-korpuse/?ysclid=mdt9mv8dtx410892441

[15] https://www.kostroma dot kp dot ru/online/news/5297072/

[16] https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/putin-still-stealing-ukrainian-children

[17] https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-occupation-update-july-7-2025

[18] https://tass dot ru/obschestvo/24728013 

[19] https://xn--d1amqcgedd dot xn--p1ai/o_rossiyskikh_studencheskikh_otryadakh.html

[20] https://t.me/PushilinDenis/7157

[21] https://t.me/sprotyv_official/7487

[22] https://t.me/razvozhaev/13546

[23] https://t.me/razvozhaev/13546

[24] https://t.me/razvozhaev/13546

[25] https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/20/russia-forces-ukrainians-occupied-areas-military

[26] https://t.me/SALDO_VGA/8988 

[27] https://t.me/SALDO_VGA/8988 

[28] https://t.me/VGA_Kherson/32816

[29] https://t.me/Aksenov82/7913