In addition to seeing their city devastated by bombs, children in Mariupol will be deprived of summer holidays to prepare for the Russian school curriculum, according to a Ukrainian official.
According to Petro Andriouchchenko, adviser to the mayor of this port where the last Ukrainian fighters have gone in recent days, “the occupiers have announced the extension of the school year until September 1st.
“All summer, the children will have lessons in Russian language and literature, Russian history and mathematics lessons in Russian,” he said, without specifying how many students were concerned.
"The main goal is de-Ukrainization and preparation for the start of the school year according to the Russian curriculum," he said.
However, he added that the Russian "occupiers" had so far failed to find enough teachers, "only 53 teachers for nine schools", according to him.
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After nearly three months of siege which devastated this city, a pre-war stronghold of half a million inhabitants, the Russian forces obtained on May 20 that the fighters who were still resisting them in the immense Azovtsal steelworks lay down the weapons.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, some 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov regiment, which Moscow describes as “Nazis”, have surrendered, figures not confirmed by kyiv.
Several Ukrainian officials have accused Moscow in recent months of wanting to annex the conquered regions of southern Ukraine including Mariupol and Kherson.
Russia will even allow residents of the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to apply for a Russian passport with a "simplified procedure", according to a presidential decree issued on Wednesday.