Children and Coal Miners from Luhansk Region Pulled Into Russian Military – KyivPost

Up to 430 coal miners have been mobilized for various duties across parts of the Luhansk region, as reported by Serhiy Haiday, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, on Aug. 22 via Facebook. 

Also, according to Haiday, on the day of the 225th anniversary of the establishment of the village of Novoderkul, in the Bilovodsk district, “a solemn oath-taking and initiation of 30 school-aged children into the military-patriotic ‘Young Guard’ movement [took place].”

“Did [those children] understand the consequences? Unlikely. Parents, or rather mothers, maybe. But they let their children go anyway,” Haiday said.

Some 430 workers of the “Dovzhanska-Capitalna” coal mine in the Luhansk region have also been recruited by the Russian occupiers to strengthen their infantry.

“I have said before what methods the occupiers use to forcibly mobilize men of conscription age. Now there aren’t any workers at the mine. So the Russians have also begun to prepare children,” emphasized Haiday.

He added that the residents of Luhansk have reported numerous cases of the disappearance of children aged 14 to 18. They are being detained and then used by the Russians as tools for blackmail, so either their fathers go to fight or they send the children.

“The mass media of the so-called ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ is beginning to teach the population to be proud of [their men going to war]. As in the years of the Great Patriotic War, today in the fields, factories, and mines, men sent to the front are being replaced by women and pensioners… And they perform their duties successfully even in tough jobs…” reported Haiday on Aug. 21 on the Telegram channel of the Luhansk Military Administration.