Russian Schools Commemorate «Mariupol Liberation Day»

This week, schools, colleges, and universities across Russia held ceremonial events marking the third anniversary of the so-called “liberation of Mariupol.” In reality, the date marks the day the city came fully under Russian military control after nearly three months of siege, destruction, and the deaths of thousands of civilians.

In the regions of Tatarstan, Ryazan, and Rostov, schoolchildren and students watched patriotic videos and listened to stories from combat veterans and members of the pro-Kremlin youth group Molodaya Gvardiya about the “liberation of the city from Nazi occupiers,” claiming it had been “under the occupation of the Kyiv regime since 2014.”

“I may have gone too far when I spoke about the cruelty of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Ukrainian Nazis, but young people need to know the truth, so they don’t wear the ‘rose-colored glasses’ pushed by anti-Russian propaganda,” said combat veteran Natalya Topal after the event.

In Saint Petersburg, schoolchildren participated in a “round table” discussion about Mariupol as a sister city, where the focus was on praising the “high pace and scale of reconstruction efforts.” In Adygea, children observed a minute of silence to honor the Russian soldiers who “liberated the city.”

“Mariupol, including its outskirts, is now better than it was before the fighting began. Builders have fully renovated even buildings that suffered only minor damage. The city center now looks like a typical modern city,” states a propaganda video produced by Molodaya Gvardiya.

In the Russian education system, Mariupol is not just a city. It has become a new ideological myth, presented to schoolchildren as a symbol of “victory” and “pride in the country and its history.”