Russia Recruits Ukrainian Teenagers to Build Drones that Attack Ukraine
Russia’s Alabuga Polytechnic University is recruiting teens, including 15- to 17-year-old minors from occupied Ukraine, into paid work-study programs feeding Russia’s Shahed drone industry. Employing underage workers from occupied territory in war work is a war crime, but Russia says it’s helping children.
A Russian university in Alabuga, Tatarstan is recruiting Ukrainian teenagers aged 15 to 21 to work on developing drones that will be used to attack Ukraine. The university, Alabuga Polytechnic, has partnered with the state to offer a four-year program that combines classroom instruction with factory work. This special program is located in the special economic zone of Alabuga, which was built after Russia purchased a Shahed drone factory from Iran in 2023.
The facility now produces drones on a massive scale, employing up to 10,000 workers with 24/7 production lines. The university's recruitment materials specifically target Ukrainian students from occupied regions of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Crimea regions. The program promises a guaranteed job after graduation, with a starting salary of $330/month for first-year students and up to $1,650/month for those with experience.
Despite the apparent contradiction between the university's stated mission of education and the reality of manufacturing weapons, the Russian government is investing heavily in the program, including providing housing for up to 41,000 workers and covering travel costs for Ukrainian students. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials for alleged war crimes related to the recruitment and use of Ukrainian children in military production.
Written by urgent.news from Kyiv Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
