Russia has integrated military drone training into hundreds of schools nationwide, recruiting children as young as seven as part of a broader push to militarize the youth following its invasion of Ukraine.
In a news release, Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service said Russian schoolchildren are now receiving drone piloting instruction from war veterans under a formal school curriculum.
“In Russia, the systematic militarization of school education is gaining momentum: Children are being taught to fly combat drones under the guidance of military personnel, participants in the war against Ukraine,” the agency said.
“These are no longer separate experiments, but part of the federal course ‘Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Homeland’ where the emphasis is on training drone operators,” it added.
Some students say the courses are appealing because of their hands-on nature.
“I’ve tried robotics before, but for some reason I like flying drones more. I feel like I’m flying,” 14-year-old student Dima Nevstruev from Russia’s Chelyabinsk region told The Moscow Times. “The most interesting part is probably building your own drone, then programming it. And when you fly a drone for the first time, it’s cool.”
Efforts to introduce drone instruction in schools date back to 2023, when President Vladimir Putin endorsed their inclusion in the national curriculum.
In January, the Russian government formally incorporated drone assembly and operation into the school subject Fundamentals of Homeland Security, known by its Russian acronym OBZR. Science and Higher Education Minister Valery Falkov said the initiative aims to train 1 million unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) specialists by 2030.
Regional Rollouts and School Programs
According to Ukraine, regional governments have begun rolling out the curriculum in different ways.
In the Nizhny Novgorod region, tenth-graders learn drone assembly and operation in OBZR lessons under the military training module, with over 600 schools equipped and teachers receiving specialized training. Students also practice at basic military training camps.
In Vologda, the national Unmanned Aerial Systems project has opened a UAV training center at Vologda Technical College, and 17 schools now host drone clubs. Between 2024 and 2025, more than 400 students participated, and college spots in the Operation of UAS program have doubled.
In Vladivostok, authorities plan to incorporate UAV studies into math and physics classes, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
Drone Competitions for Children
This year, Russia will launch drone-piloting competitions aimed at recruiting more teenagers into drone warfare, under the directive of Putin. Children as young as seven will be eligible to participate.
Following the directive, state-run Ukrainian outlet United24media reported that the city of Perm plans to open drone training centers in six kindergartens, introducing preschoolers to drone piloting.
According to The Insider, to attract more schoolchildren, Russia also relies on video-game–based training tools, including a cyber-physical simulator called Berloga.
In the game, players must defend bears against swarms of bees using virtual drones. The most talented players are then recruited by the Sirius Educational Center to work on real drone projects supporting the defense industry.
Recruitment Efforts
At universities, recruitment of students has also been scaled up significantly.
Reuters reported this week that students across Russia are being offered large financial incentives to join drone units fighting in Ukraine as operators and engineers, with promised payments starting at 7 million rubles ($87,000) per year.
Beyond schools, Russia’s state sponsored youth organization YunArmia, now 1.8 million members strong, runs assembly and flight simulator courses for young recruits.
Teenagers as young as 15 are reportedly assembling Iranian-designed Shahed drones at the Alabuga factory in Tatarstan during grueling overnight shifts. Moscow doubled YunArmia’s budget to $11 million last year.
“Kurchatov, Korolyov and Stalin live in your DNA.” Russian military TV showcases the giant Shahed drone production plant in Tatarstan, boasting that children after 9th grade are working there to help kill Ukrainians. pic.twitter.com/j7rbiFy9On
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) July 20, 2025
Militarization of Children in Occupied Ukraine
Russia is not only militarizing its own schools. It has also implemented military re-education programs for children in occupied Ukraine.
A September 2025 report by a Yale University research team found that Ukrainian children taken to Russia were forced to assemble military equipment.
The researchers identified evidence at more than 39 of the 210 facilities holding tens of thousands of abducted children that they had been subjected to unlawful re-education and militarization programs, including the production of equipment for Russia’s military.
