PGO sends indictment against Russian Dpty Education Minister Omelchuk to court – prosecutor general
Law enforcement officers have sent to court the case against Russian Deputy Minister of Education Andrey Omelchuk, who is accused of complicity in changing the boundaries of Ukraine’s territory and state border, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko has said.
"Education cannot be an instrument of war. But Russia has made it exactly that. The Office of the Prosecutor General has sent to court an indictment against Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Andrey Omelchuk. This concerns one of the key organizers of the systematic destruction of Ukrainian education in the temporarily occupied territories. He is charged with complicity in changing the boundaries of Ukraine’s territory and state border. But in essence, this is about something else. About an attempt to change not only borders, but also the consciousness of Ukrainian children," Kravchenko said on Telegram.
Thus, the prosecutor general said, under Omelchuk’s supervision, Ukrainian schools and universities were forcibly transferred to Russian standards: re-registration of institutions, replacement of curricula, and displacement of the Ukrainian language, history and culture.
"We see how education is being systematically turned into an instrument of assimilation and militarization of children in the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. Through so-called ‘re-education’ camps, militarized movements such as ‘Yunarmiya,’ ‘Movement of the First’ and ‘Voin,’ children are being drawn into ideological indoctrination, taught how to handle weapons and forced to swear allegiance to the aggressor state. This is not about education. This is about preparation for war," Kravchenko said.
According to Russia’s plans, by 2030 the number of participants in such movements should increase by 250,000 annually, including at the expense of 1.6 million children living under occupation. Some of them are being directly prepared for service in the Russian Armed Forces.
From 2019 to 2025, at least 6,000 Ukrainian children were involved in Yunarmiya. There are known cases when, after reaching adulthood, they fought against their own state.
"We qualify these actions as war crimes. Juvenile prosecutors have already notified 18 members of an organized group who ensured these processes of suspicion. In total, there are 30 suspects in this category, and two have already been convicted. I am convinced that everyone who tries to take away a child’s identity and turn that child into a weapon will be held accountable. This is not only about law. This is about the future of the country," the prosecutor general said.
