Gun Talk with Young Cadets (Excerpt from ’Child Warriors of Donetsk’)

Once a relic of the Soviet era, patriotic youth clubs in the Donetsk region of Ukraine are gaining new popularity, offering military training to their members. As young people practice assembling guns, marching, and military drills, a strong sense of allegiance flows through the ranks, with some members holding high aspirations of joining the Russian Federation army. Up to 15 of these clubs compete in the annual Future Warrior Contest held in a local military academy, which is judged by the academy’s memb