Hundreds of Ukrainian children and teenagers are recruited by Russia through the social network Telegram and TikTok to carry out sabotage actions in Ukraine. The news is released this Thursday, November 20th, by online edition of the British television station BBCwhich cites Ukrainian government sources and, in its report, confirms this information with the testimony of some of these young people.
One of them, with the fictitious name of Vlad, aged 17, traveled 800 kilometers in July from his home in eastern Ukraine to the city of Rivne, in the west of the country, to collect a bomb and a telephone that were hidden. As compensation, the Russians promised him 2000 dollars (just over 1700 euros) after placing this explosive device in a van used by the Ukrainian military recruitment service.
“When I was connecting the wires, I thought it might explode. I thought I was going to die,” he said, revealing that he had received orders to transmit everything he did via telephone to his contact, who would detonate the explosive remotely when someone entered the vehicle.
However, in this case, the attack was prevented by the Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) and the young man was detained and awaiting trial, accused of terrorism, which could result in a prison sentence of up to 12 years.
The BBC reports that, according to SBU data, in the last two years more than 800 Ukrainians have been identified as having been recruited by Russia, of which 240 are minors and some as young as 11 years old. “They tried to recruit children as young as nine or ten years old,” said Anastasiia Apetyk, a Ukrainian cybersecurity expert.
The SBU states that this recruitment by Russia takes place mainly through Telegram, but also through TikTok and on electronic gaming platforms, where young people are enticed with money and not out of any sympathy for Russia.
In Vlad’s case, he had registered on two Telegram channels, where he revealed that he was looking for a remote job. In about 30 minutes he received a contact from a man who said his name was Roman, who spoke Russian. At first he resisted, but was later persuaded, having started to do easier tasks, which became more dangerous and, consequently, better paid.
There are even networks organized on Telegram with videos of actions carried out such as fires and explosions. On one of these channels mentioned by the BBC, payments are offered ranging from 1500 dollars for burning down a post office or 3000 for setting fire to a bank.