Authors

Discussion

Mounting evidence of Russia’s war crimes and repressive policies in the occupied territories has compelled a growing number of scholars and policymakers to recognise the colonial nature of Russia’s war in Ukraine. This paper retraces the evolution of the mechanisms and objectives of Russia’s occupation policies from 2014 to 2024, focusing on the cultural and educational spheres. While these policies have been methodically executed since the start of the Ukrainian-Russian war, their objective has evolved from eroding Ukrainian social cohesion as a tool of political destabilisation (before 2022) to eradicating Ukrainian national identity as a tool of imperial subjugation (after 2022). The analysis systematises available evidence by looking at two distinct dimensions. The physical dimension concerns the deliberate damage or destruction of cultural heritage sites and architectural buildings, the looting of Ukrainian museums and libraries, but also the erection of new monuments and spaces of collective memorialisation. The psychological dimension refers to indoctrination and militarisation programmes targeting children and youth through the local educational systems. Overall, this study explains how political indoctrination and cultural assimilation programmes, which had been originally designed to influence the reintegration of the so-called ‘Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics’ into Ukraine on Russian terms as part of the Minsk diplomatic process, eventually prepared the ground for crimes later characterised as amounting to (cultural) genocide following the start of the full-scale invasion.