Russian strike kills 27 near Kyiv as Moscow militarizes schools
Russian strike kills 27 near Kyiv as Moscow militarizes schools
Investing.com -- At least 27 people were killed in a Russian drone strike near Kyiv overnight, as Moscow continues to intensify its war effort and expand military training across Russian schools, Bloomberg reported Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strike hit the village of Myla, where a warehouse detonated and caused extensive damage to nearby infrastructure.
Residential buildings and a care home for elderly people and people with disabilities were damaged, Zelenskyy said. More than 370 people had been evacuated, with the operation still ongoing.
The attack comes as Russia moves to deepen military preparation at home, including through a revamped school curriculum that places basic military training at the center of civics education.
Students as young as 13 will receive instruction covering weapons, battlefield medicine, mines and explosives, chemical and radiation exposure, survival training and military discipline.
Half of weekly classes in the mandatory “Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland” course will now focus on military preparation.
The changes form part of a broader push to build a long-term recruitment pipeline as the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year.
Russia is seeking around 400,000 new recruits annually, according to Western estimates, after more than 1.5 million Russian troops were killed or wounded.
Military veterans are also increasingly being sent into schools to speak to students, while state-backed youth programs are expanding combat-style training.
Participation in Russia’s revived Zarnitsa military games is expected to reach 2.5 million children this year, up from 800,000 in 2024.
The government has allocated a record 70 billion rubles to “patriotic education” in 2026, about 20 times the level seen in 2021.
The measures point to a war effort that is becoming more deeply embedded in Russian society, even as battlefield attacks continue to cause heavy civilian casualties in Ukraine.