While President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government hopes that freedom to leave for 18-22-year-olds will stop an exodus of young men at 17, and help build their love for Ukraine, basic military training will ensure they are ready to fight for it.
The training is obligatory for male students and will be embedded in all universities and academies as a standalone subject. It combines a total of 90 hours of theoretical instruction with 210 hours of practical training. It is estimated that 80,000 to 200,000 students will take part.
From September 1, students have been learning the fundamentals of military service, first aid, and operational conduct before they move to hands-on exercises in specialized training centers. Practical sessions are scheduled from May to October, ensuring young people acquire real-world skills
Russia brainwashes its youth from kindergarten onwards to build the so-called Z-Generation and make it ready for future acts of aggression. Ukraine’s young people already know the threat their country faces, including its erasure from the map. They live day-to-day with bloody strikes like the September 9 targeting of pensioners picking up their monthly payments in the village of Yarova. That left 23 dead and 18 wounded. Such casual bloodshed produces strong motivation.
Students will take the military oath when they complete training, earning a certificate that recognizes their proficiency. Successful completion of the course will then exempt participants from compulsory military service until they are 25 years old, though they can join up on a voluntary basis.
Women, who make up just under half of Ukraine’s 1.1 million students, are required to undertake the theory part of the training and can volunteer for practical exercises, potentially doubling the number of young people in the program.
The framework, initially focused on second-year students, will be overseen by the Ministry of Defense in coordination with the Ministry of Education and other agencies.
Before the new rules on travel outside the country, which came into force in late August, no men aged between 18 and 60 were allowed to leave Ukraine. Those aged between 18 and 22 can now leave, and any currently living outside the country will be able to return and leave again.
“We want Ukrainians to maintain ties with Ukraine as much as possible,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on Telegram. “This decision also applies to citizens who, for various reasons, found themselves abroad.”
Kyiv’s decisions reflect a strategic recalibration to balance education, free movement, and practical preparedness. The Ukrainian diaspora, numbering over 20 million worldwide, has doubled since 2022, raising concerns in Kyiv of a “lost generation” that may never return. This prospect carries profound demographic, economic, and social implications for Ukraine’s long-term recovery and resilience.
Russia takes a very different approach. Almost two years ago, for example, Hero Time assemblies have become near-weekly rituals in universities. They are addressed by veterans who champion the so-called special military operation and lecture on destroying NATO hardware.
Students are also urged to join “scientific brigades” at military research departments and write letters to soldiers at the front, sew garments for mobilized troops, and watch extreme propaganda videos. Some universities run courses specifically tailored to prepare students to fight in Ukraine.
Compulsory unpaid work, under the banner Learning Through Service, which can include helping the military, was launched in August 2023 and is mandatory for Russian students. It sits alongside Fundamentals of Russian Statehood, a classroom version of the regime’s Conversations on the Important. The classes are intended to indoctrinate young Russians and shape “correct” political views.
But the work starts much younger, and classrooms have become training grounds. Since September 2023, initial military training has been mandatory in schools across Russia, and children march in step, throw mock grenades, assemble Kalashnikov rifles, and listen to lectures from men who fought in Ukraine.
The state insists these children are simply learning discipline, but they absorb the normalization of violence and war.
The Yunarmiya youth movement, which trains children to fight, is another aspect of the policy of militarization. What began as a Ministry of Defense project in 2016 now has nearly two million adolescent members.
Children in uniform are trained as drone pilots and stormtroopers. The program reaches ever-younger children, with Conversations on the Important underway in kindergartens since September. Officials justify this by invoking the need for early “moral” foundations. According to Novaya Gazeta, children are encouraged to join “marching and singing contests, grenade throwing competitions, and meet-and-greet sessions with servicemen.”
Toddlers can wear miniature uniforms, take part in games about war, and even military toy parades to shape the Russia of tomorrow and prepare for future wars, quite likely including the country’s neighbors.
Elena Davlikanova is a Democracy Fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). Her work is focused on Ukraine and Russia’s domestic issues and their effects on global peace. She is an experienced researcher who, in 2022, conducted the studies ‘The Work of the Ukrainian Parliament in Wartime’ and ‘The War of Narratives: The Image of Ukraine in Media.’
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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