Officer of the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Anatoliy Shtefan, says Russian occupation authorities in Crimea have launched a military training program for elementary school students.
"Occupied Crimea has already turned into a camp for the training of future Putin's military units. The Russian occupiers do not miss a single opportunity for their insidious propaganda and militarization of Ukrainian children and teenagers," he wrote on Telegram, adding a photo from a school in the village of Poshtovne.
Russian occupation of Crimea
Russia occupied Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014 after its troops had seized the peninsula. An illegal referendum was held amid the aggressive takeover on the issue of the peninsula's accession to Russia. De-facto Crimean authorities claimed that 96.77% of the Crimean population had allegedly supported the move.
Read alsoUNGA adopts resolution on human rights situation in occupied CrimeaOn March 18, 2014, the so-called agreement on the accession of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation was signed off in the Kremlin.
Western powers never recognized the seizure of Crimea and imposed sanctions on Russia over aggression against Ukraine.
Ukraine's parliament voted to designate February 20, 2014, as the official date for the start of the temporary occupation of Crimea.
