Today marks four years since the beginning of the full-scale war against Ukraine. In terms of duration, it has already surpassed World War II, yet in Russian schools this is treated not as a tragedy, but as a reason for pride.
Each year, the number of schools and kindergartens that “mark” this date continues to grow. This year, the scale is especially noticeable: across the country, schools, technical colleges, colleges, and kindergartens held “lessons of courage,” meetings with “participants of the special military operation,” lectures, rallies, and commemorative events.
“War is not only sorrow and destruction, but also an eternal lesson in courage, resilience, and love for the Motherland,” — this is what Russian children are told during such events.
In the Lipetsk region, schools and technical colleges held a unified regional online “lesson of courage” dedicated to the fourth anniversary of the “special military operation.” Children were shown a video in which three participants of the war answered “patriotic” questions from a representative of the regional branch of the “Defenders of the Fatherland” foundation.
In the Orenburg region, medical college students were taken to an “SMO museum” located inside a local school, displaying personal belongings of soldiers and items brought from the front.
“This date has firmly entered the calendar as a symbol of decisive actions to protect state sovereignty and ensure the security of our Motherland’s borders,” — Buguruslan branch of OOMK.
In Udmurtia, a “lesson of courage” for 120 students was led by a member of the “Combat Brotherhood,” focusing on the “reasons for the start of the SVO” and the role of volunteers. In the Kaluga region, on the anniversary of the war, students were made to write letters to soldiers and weave camouflage nets.
“From now on, Defender of the Fatherland Day, February 23, will forever be inseparably linked in our memory with the eve and beginning of the SMO, proving to the whole world that truth is strength. And unity is strength,” — stated in one of the schools.
The most widespread initiative was the “Flowers for Heroes” campaign. In hundreds of schools and kindergartens, children laid flowers at monuments and “Hero Desks.” In the Orenburg region, students were brought to a cemetery, where they stood guard in the snow by the grave of a fallen participant of the war.
“What is happening in Ukraine now is called peace enforcement in international practice. The President and the army are now using professional military forces to destroy the military potential of a state created for one purpose — to subjugate Russia,” — teachers explain to children.
