RUSSIA WAGES WAR ON UKRAINE'S FUTURE
One of the grimmest aspects of Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine is the Kremlin's targeting of Ukrainian children for adoption, deportation and brainwashing. A new report from the Yale University School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab details that, since February 2022, Russia has transferred Ukrainian children from territories under its control into a vast network of facilities where those minors are systematically reeducated and militarized. The scope of the effort is massive. "Children from Ukraine have been taken to at least 210 locations in Russia and temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine," The Yale study notes.
Those facilities range from hotels to "family support centers" to schools and universities. At most of them, Ukrainian children are exposed to re-education activities such as "cultural, patriotic, or military programming that aligns with pro-Russia narratives." In a minority, those minors are made to do more, and are inducted into "militarization programs, including combat training, ceremonial parades and drills, assembly of drones and other materiel, and education in military history." (Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab, September 2025; New York Times, September 16, 2025)
[EDITORS' NOTE: Exactly how many Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russia is a matter of some dispute. According to European estimates, approximately 20,000 Ukrainian minors have been "forcibly deported to the Russian Federation and Belarus or detained in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories" since February 2022. That, however, could be just the tip of the iceberg. The U.S. Congress has noted that some estimates put the true number of abducted Ukrainian children an order of magnitude higher: as much as 200,000. Russian officials, meanwhile, have boasted that nearly three-quarters of a million Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion.]
MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT CALLS OUT RUSSIAN ELECTION INTERFERENCE
Russia continues to expand its "grey zone" activities in Eastern and Central Europe as it seeks to subvert the Western order. One of Moscow's main targets in this regard has been the nation of Moldova, which has faced growing election interference on the part of the Kremlin. In a recent speech to the European Parliament, Moldovan President Maia Sandu charged that the Russian government is disseminating disinformation, illegally funding political parties, and buying votes, all with the objective of swaying the country's upcoming legislative election away from the sitting pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS). The stakes are high; Moldova, which borders Ukraine and NATO member Romania, became an EU candidate state in 2022 and is steadily advancing toward full membership in the bloc – something that Moscow is eager to prevent. (Associated Press, September 9, 2025)
BELARUSIAN SPY NETWORK DISCOVERED IN CENTRAL EUROPE
Meanwhile, Russian ally Belarus has been uncovered as playing a key role in Moscow's "hybrid war" campaign. Intelligence services from Czechia, Hungary, and Romania jointly identified a network of spies reporting to the Belarusian KGB. Czech officials expelled one individual who had been working under the guise of a diplomat, while Romania's intelligence service arrested another suspect formerly working in Moldovan intelligence. Romanian authorities believe the suspect was passing information to the government of Alexander Lukashenko (and, by extension, to the Kremlin) both from within Moldova and from inside Romania. The head of Czech intelligence, Michel Koudelka, called for further restrictions on diplomats from Belarus and Russia in response. (Associated Press, September 9, 2025)
NAVALNY: FOUL PLAY AFTER ALL
When Russia's most famous opposition activist, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic penal colony in February 2024, foul play was widely suspected. However, the Kremlin officially denied culpability, and independent evidence that Navalny had been killed was scant. Now, however, Meduza reports that Julia Navalnaya, Navalny's widow, has announced that she has definitive proof that her late husband was eliminated by Russian authorities. Navalnaya bases her charge on the testimonies of employees at the prison where her late husband was detained – details of Navalny's last day that calls doubt on the official diagnosis of "sudden death syndrome" promulgated by the Kremlin. (Meduza, September 17, 2025)
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