Russia's Ministry of Education has published a state textbook, 'History of Our Land. Donbas and Novorossiya,' for grades 5–7 in occupied Ukrainian territories, according to the independent outlet Verstka. The book is set to reach local schools on September 1.
One exercise for grades 6–7 asks students to study an image titled 'Heroes Z' and prove that 'the feats of the fighters of the special military operation are worthy of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.' Students are also required to explain how the picture reflects 'the continuity of generations in the defense of the Motherland.'
The textbook's authors claim that Ukrainian nationalist organizations, with foreign funding, sought the dissolution of the USSR but failed to gain support in Donbas and southern Ukraine. The book omits the 1991 referendum in which 83.9% of voters in Donetsk Oblast and 83.86% in Luhansk Oblast backed Ukrainian independence.
A chapter on the start of the full-scale war cites UN data on 14,500 deaths since 2014. Verstka notes the authors do not specify that this figure includes about 4,500 killed Ukrainian soldiers.
Volodymyr Zelensky is mentioned once, as a 'former KVN actor' after whose election, according to the authors, 'the aggressiveness of the Kyiv regime increased.' More than ten pages are devoted to the war and its alleged causes.
The textbooks were added to the federal list on August 9, a day after they were published on the Ministry of Education's website.