Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Ukrainians impose Russian citizenship or live elsewhere in Russia and their home country’s occupied residence.
Putin signed a decree on Thursday that forces Ukrainian citizens living in affected areas to “resolve their legal status” by September 10, or leave the area, the London Ministry of Defense wrote in its latest intelligence update.
The report on X said: “Putin’s decree is almost certain to force Ukrainian citizens to refuse to accept the territory of Ukrainian citizens as Russian citizens.”
It added that the Kremlin continued its policy of “Russification” of Ukraine’s illegally occupied territory as part of a “long-term effort to eliminate Ukrainian culture, identity and the state.”
Russia illegally considered the Black Sea Peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed a decade ago, and part of the occupied areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson, annexed in 2022, becoming part of Russia and part of Russia.
