this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2025
129 points (97.8% liked)

World News

49786 readers
2198 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Teenagers who take part in video games tell of being headhunted to work on technology used against Ukraine

Russian authorities have systematically involved children in the design and testing of drones for the country’s war in Ukraine through nationwide competitions that begin with innocent-seeming video games and end up with the most talented students headhunted by defence companies, an investigation has found.

The revelations, part of an investigation by the exiled Russian news outlet the Insider, are the latest to show just how much Russia’s leaders are dragging the country’s youth into the war effort in Ukraine, with “patriotic” and militarised education often spilling over into outright participation.

“The kids are actively involved in modelling components of systems for various drones,” one of the teenagers involved told a journalist. “I know of several people at least who were modelling UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] components for major enterprises.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] gonzo-rand19@moist.catsweat.com 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The correspondents posed as reporters from state-controlled media outlets. Independent journalism has essentially been outlawed in Russia since the state of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with most of those still working forced into exile.

By posing as state-controlled journalists still in the country, the reporters hoped their interviewees would feel more comfortable sharing sensitive information with them.

Does this put the kids at risk of retaliation? I suppose they're counting on there being so many teens doing this that they can't narrow it down, but this approach doesn't seem very responsible...

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I didn’t RTA but I assume they hide their identities?

[–] gonzo-rand19@moist.catsweat.com 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You can still narrow down who it may have been through other means, such as security footage or asking around if any of the kids have been wandering, talking to strangers, or were absent when they normally wouldn't be.

Given that Russia is at war and they have a history of surveillance and intimidation of their own people, even scientists working on top secret projects, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that these teens are not safe now.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

This is all true. If the teens are found out, hopefully any punishment will not be too harsh as also the reporters posed as state media, which the teens can say they thought was sanctioned by the government. (Maybe they even believed that themselves.)