Russian schoolchildren are being forced to make supplies for President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine — including parts for flying grenades being dropped by kamikaze drones, according to reports.
Young students at a school in the Republic of Tatarstan region were filmed putting the finishing touches on 3D-printed orange “tails” to be attached to VOG-17 grenades, according to the local channel Nokrat.
One schoolboy, Azamat Gimazov, explained with a smile that the grenade “is hooked to a drone, then dropped.”
The tail is needed “so it can fly evenly,” the boy said.
A reporter explained in a voiceover that although the brightly-colored “tails” may look like “toys,” they “help a grenade hit right at the target, when released from a drone, without flipping in the air.”
A schoolboy from Russia’s Tatarstan region is seen working on the “tail” of a flying grenade that will be dropped on Ukraine. social media/e2w
The toy-like orange “tails” are attached to VOG-17 flying grenades, which are dropped from kamikaze drones. social media/e2wSince the start of the war in February last year, a growing number of afterschool programs and hobby groups for children have been churning out supplies for the military, ranging from camouflage nets to tourniquets.
Students as young as 9 at another school in Tatarstan have been handcrafting crutches and canes for soldiers injured on the frontlines, as part of the intensifying militarization of Russia’s education system.
Kids in an afterschool woodworking class at Aleksandro-Slobodskaya School have so far made more than 60 pairs of crutches, 40 of which had already been shipped off to hospitals, each with a handwritten “get well” note, reported local outlet Novosti Zainska.
Children as young as 9 at one school in Tatarstan have been making crutches and canes for wounded Russian soldiers. social media/e2w
The Aleksandro-Slobodskaya School had already sent 40 crutches to hospitals. social media/e2wIt takes two hours to manufacture a pair of wooden crutches — a noisy work that has to be carried out after the end of the school day or in the evenings, so as not to disrupt other classes, the report said.
The same school has produced more than 2,000 trench candles for use on the front lines.
Meanwhile, students in the remote Udmurtia region have been roped into knitting “stump stockings” for hospitals treating soldiers who had lost limbs in combat.
The disturbing report comes as it emerged Russia has lost 315,000 of its troops due to death or injury — or nearly 90% of the active-duty force it had when the conflict began, a US intelligence source told Reuters.
Students in the Udmurtia region have been busy knitting “stump stockings” for troops who had lost limbs. social media/e2wOn Tuesday, Putin also signed a law making it compulsory for elementary and middle schools in the next academic year to offer Soviet-style “labor lessons” where students will be introduced to woodworking, sawing and repair work, reported the state-controlled NTV channel.
The law — set to be enforced next year — also bans students from using cellphones in class, except in emergencies involving a threat to life.
