Russian authorities used an international youth festival to recruit suicide bombers
Russian authorities used the “International Youth Festival—2026” in Yekaterinburg to promote the “Alabuga Polytech” training center, which trains specialists for the production of “Shahed”-type attack drones. Guests at the event—including a significant number of foreigners—were shown the institution’s booths, which promised career prospects and quick employment.
Under the guise of statements about “technological sovereignty” and “educational opportunities,” the center’s director, Elvira Fomina, and the forum’s organizers are recruiting young people to produce instruments of terror. Russian troops use the drones obtained in this way on a daily basis to strike civilian infrastructure and peaceful residents of Ukraine.
Previously, the “Alabuga” training center has repeatedly been the focus of international investigations due to its use of fraudulent schemes to recruit women from African and Asian countries.
This was reported by .
Russian propaganda has released another AI-generated video on TikTok, purportedly featuring soldiers from the 46th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The video shows “three soldiers,” and a voiceover claims that “this is all that’s left of the unit” after it was redeployed to a new section of the front, which is why they allegedly decided to desert.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Armed Forces debunked a Russian fake news story about the Vovchansk encirclement.
