Latest news with #RussianOccupation
The Australian
06-08-2025
- Politics
- The Australian
Rebuilding in devastated Mariupol under Russia's thumb
Sun-seekers crowded onto the beach in Mariupol in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine -- a devastated city which Moscow wants to turn into an improbable seaside resort. "Take a dip in the Sea of Azov!" said 52-year-old local Ivan, who like other beachgoers lapped up the good weather and mild waters of a coastline that is now entirely Russian-held. "Mariupol was, is and will be Russian," said the man, whose name has been changed. The slogan is the same one repeatedly put forward by Moscow, which took the city in May 2022 after a long siege. Exiled Ukrainian city officials say 22,000 civilians died in the Russian offensive and the UN estimates 90 percent of Mariupol's housing was damaged or destroyed. Some 300,000 of the predominantly Russian-speaking city's pre-conflict population of 540,000 has fled, the exiled authorities estimate. President Vladimir Putin quickly hailed what he called the liberation of Mariupol, while Kyiv and the majority of the international community denounce it as an occupation. In September 2022, Russia announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions including Donetsk where Mariupol is located -- even though it does not fully control the areas. Across Ukraine, the resistence put up by its forces in the city during the early weeks of Russia's military offensive has become a symbol of resilience. The city defenders, particularly the soldiers and civilians who held out during the last days of the siege of the Azovstal steelworks, are hailed as heroes. - 'I ordered furniture' - Russia in 2022 promised to rebuild the city within three years, hoping to showcase Mariupol as a symbol of its ability to bring prosperity to parts of Ukraine it controls. But Denis Kochubey, the city's exiled deputy mayor, said Moscow's reconstruction is just "a large-scale propaganda project." The building work is "aimed at erasing the memory" of Russia's actions in Mariupol by "showing that they have brought development". In the city, AFP reporters saw cement mixers operating at various construction sites. Russian military vehicles also went back and forth from the front line, about two hours' drive away. At the entrance to Mariupol, behind the sprawling hulk of Azovstal, stand some new apartment blocks. Galina Giller, a pensioner, was given a one-bedroom flat for free by the Moscow-installed authorities in May 2024. "They wrote to me saying I would get an apartment without any preconditions. They gave us the keys, we came to see it and I ordered furniture," the 67-year-old widow said. Giller fled the fighting in 2022 initially to nearby Donetsk, then to Crimea -- another Ukrainian region that was annexed by Russia in 2014. "I am terribly sad for the ordinary people," she said. Like all the inhabitants who agreed to speak to AFP, Giller, who said she has Cossack and Greek roots, is a native Russian speaker. She still has Ukrainian citizenship but recently also received a Russian passport. Moscow has handed out 3.5 million Russian passports to people living in areas it controls in Ukraine -- a policy that Kyiv has denounced as an "illegal" violation of its sovereignty. In Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia, Russian passports facilitate access to social benefits and protect residents from potential expropriation. Putin in March issued a decree that requires Ukrainians living in Moscow-controlled areas to "regularise their legal status" -- meaning to become a Russian citizen or register as a foreign resident. - Wagner t-shirt - The city now uses the Russian ruble and has Russian-style phone prefixes and car number plates. In a park where Russian flags fluttered in the wind, posters hail Russian soldiers who died during the offensive as "heroes of our time" -- a reference to a literary classic by Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov. "I don't see any occupation here. I can travel freely on Russian territory," said Renald, 33, who wore a t-shirt with the log of Wagner, a former mercenary group that fought on the Russian side against Ukraine. Like most of the residents willing to speak to a foreign media outlet, Renald did not want to give his surname. Those who oppose Russian control of the city prefer to stay silent -- or have long left Mariupol. The risk of being imprisoned is high with Russia cracking down on dissent. Authorities regularly arrest and give long prison sentences to people accused of "collaborating" with Kyiv. And people accused of "discrediting" the Russian army get jailed. One ex-resident, Tetiana, who spoke to AFP from outside Ukraine, said she feared "something bad" would happen if she went back, after criticising Moscow over the destruction of the city. - 'Memory' - In central Mariupol, many buildings have been restored. Cafes and supermarkets are open and the bars draw clients by blasting out techno beats. On Lenin Avenue, a "Mak Fly" restaurant serves burgers and fries. Authorities are also rebuilding the bombed-out theatre -- which Ukraine says was targeted despite being used as a shelter for civilians and with the word "children" scrawled on the courtyard in giant Russian letters. According to Amnesty International, the March 2022 strike killed "at least a dozen people and likely many more". The Russian-appointed city authorities ignored numerous AFP requests to comment on the reconstruction. One of the most visible signs of Russian control was the inauguration this year of the Zhdanov Museum by decree from Putin. Set up on the site of a museum about local folklore, the institution is dedicated to henchman Andrei Zhdanov (1896-1948), a Mariupol native responsible for setting Soviet cultural policy and one of the architects of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's repression. Under the Soviet Union, Mariupol was known as Zhdanov between 1948 and 1989. Museum director Pavel Ignatev rejected accusations against his hero, saying that "historians... never found a document with the signature of Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov that authorised any kind of repression, execution or expulsion". - 'Constant shooting' - Outside the city centre, there are quiet roads with houses gutted by the fighting. Some doors still have bullet holes and signs in Russian saying "Children", "Residents" or "Bodies". Mariupol is still far from becoming the seaside resort Moscow wants. AFP reporters noted frequent power and water cuts in the city. Sergei, 52, lives with his dogs in a rundown house -- partly destroyed in the siege -- where weeds sprouted up in the garden. Sergei, who builds advertising billboards, said he had been to see local authorities three times to ask for compensation "but they themselves had no idea". "There were a lot of people there in the same situation as me who went to bother them with all sorts of questions," he said with a sigh. He abandoned his search. In independent and international media, there have been multiple allegations of corruption over the vast sums being poured into Mariupol's reconstruction. - Housing - City authorities in exile told AFP that the Russian-installed municipality is making lists of "ownerless" homes and apartments of residents who fled. The lists are sent to courts which give the property to people who stayed and whose housing was destroyed during the 2022 siege. Luisa Nalivay, director of the Mariupol branch of the real estate agent Ayax, boasted that her firm "has been present in Mariupol since the first day after the end of the fighting". She said the price per square metre of new housing has jumped from 85,000 rubles (around $1,050) in 2022 to 200,000 rubles ($2,500) now. Nalivay said the rise was due to the low interest rate of just two percent on mortgages offered by Moscow to Russians who move to Mariupol. The rate can rise to more than 20 percent in Russia. Nalivay said "many people" from Russian regions wanted to move to Mariupol. "There are people who come for work, fall in love with the city and its mild climate and decide to move here with their families," she said. She said the air quality has been particularly good since the "metal works are currently stopped". - Surveillance - That is what attracted Elena, who left Yekaterinburg in the Urals to buy a house in Mariupol last year. "It's an investment," said the tattooed beauty parlour worker, who wore XXL sunglasses. "Anywhere in the world which is by the sea, where people relax on the coast, there is going to be growth." But, far from the resort image that Moscow wants to project, surveillance and fear are omnipresent. A day after being interviewed, one resident who came across AFP reporters said an approach was made. "After I spoke to you, a big guy warned me against speaking to foreigners. I told him he could go and talk to the police if he wanted," said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I did not say anything incriminating," the person added, seeking reassurance. gde/bur/tw
News.com.au
06-08-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Rebuilding in devastated Mariupol under Russia's thumb
Sun-seekers crowded onto the beach in Mariupol in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine -- a devastated city which Moscow wants to turn into an improbable seaside resort. "Take a dip in the Sea of Azov!" said 52-year-old local Ivan, who like other beachgoers lapped up the good weather and mild waters of a coastline that is now entirely Russian-held. "Mariupol was, is and will be Russian," said the man, whose name has been changed. The slogan is the same one repeatedly put forward by Moscow, which took the city in May 2022 after a long siege. Exiled Ukrainian city officials say 22,000 civilians died in the Russian offensive and the UN estimates 90 percent of Mariupol's housing was damaged or destroyed. Some 300,000 of the predominantly Russian-speaking city's pre-conflict population of 540,000 has fled, the exiled authorities estimate. President Vladimir Putin quickly hailed what he called the liberation of Mariupol, while Kyiv and the majority of the international community denounce it as an occupation. In September 2022, Russia announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions including Donetsk where Mariupol is located -- even though it does not fully control the areas. Across Ukraine, the resistence put up by its forces in the city during the early weeks of Russia's military offensive has become a symbol of resilience. The city defenders, particularly the soldiers and civilians who held out during the last days of the siege of the Azovstal steelworks, are hailed as heroes. - 'I ordered furniture' - Russia in 2022 promised to rebuild the city within three years, hoping to showcase Mariupol as a symbol of its ability to bring prosperity to parts of Ukraine it controls. But Denis Kochubey, the city's exiled deputy mayor, said Moscow's reconstruction is just "a large-scale propaganda project." The building work is "aimed at erasing the memory" of Russia's actions in Mariupol by "showing that they have brought development". In the city, AFP reporters saw cement mixers operating at various construction sites. Russian military vehicles also went back and forth from the front line, about two hours' drive away. At the entrance to Mariupol, behind the sprawling hulk of Azovstal, stand some new apartment blocks. Galina Giller, a pensioner, was given a one-bedroom flat for free by the Moscow-installed authorities in May 2024. "They wrote to me saying I would get an apartment without any preconditions. They gave us the keys, we came to see it and I ordered furniture," the 67-year-old widow said. Giller fled the fighting in 2022 initially to nearby Donetsk, then to Crimea -- another Ukrainian region that was annexed by Russia in 2014. "I am terribly sad for the ordinary people," she said. Like all the inhabitants who agreed to speak to AFP, Giller, who said she has Cossack and Greek roots, is a native Russian speaker. She still has Ukrainian citizenship but recently also received a Russian passport. Moscow has handed out 3.5 million Russian passports to people living in areas it controls in Ukraine -- a policy that Kyiv has denounced as an "illegal" violation of its sovereignty. In Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia, Russian passports facilitate access to social benefits and protect residents from potential expropriation. Putin in March issued a decree that requires Ukrainians living in Moscow-controlled areas to "regularise their legal status" -- meaning to become a Russian citizen or register as a foreign resident. - Wagner t-shirt - The city now uses the Russian ruble and has Russian-style phone prefixes and car number plates. In a park where Russian flags fluttered in the wind, posters hail Russian soldiers who died during the offensive as "heroes of our time" -- a reference to a literary classic by Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov. "I don't see any occupation here. I can travel freely on Russian territory," said Renald, 33, who wore a t-shirt with the log of Wagner, a former mercenary group that fought on the Russian side against Ukraine. Like most of the residents willing to speak to a foreign media outlet, Renald did not want to give his surname. Those who oppose Russian control of the city prefer to stay silent -- or have long left Mariupol. The risk of being imprisoned is high with Russia cracking down on dissent. Authorities regularly arrest and give long prison sentences to people accused of "collaborating" with Kyiv. And people accused of "discrediting" the Russian army get jailed. One ex-resident, Tetiana, who spoke to AFP from outside Ukraine, said she feared "something bad" would happen if she went back, after criticising Moscow over the destruction of the city. - 'Memory' - In central Mariupol, many buildings have been restored. Cafes and supermarkets are open and the bars draw clients by blasting out techno beats. On Lenin Avenue, a "Mak Fly" restaurant serves burgers and fries. Authorities are also rebuilding the bombed-out theatre -- which Ukraine says was targeted despite being used as a shelter for civilians and with the word "children" scrawled on the courtyard in giant Russian letters. According to Amnesty International, the March 2022 strike killed "at least a dozen people and likely many more". The Russian-appointed city authorities ignored numerous AFP requests to comment on the reconstruction. One of the most visible signs of Russian control was the inauguration this year of the Zhdanov Museum by decree from Putin. Set up on the site of a museum about local folklore, the institution is dedicated to henchman Andrei Zhdanov (1896-1948), a Mariupol native responsible for setting Soviet cultural policy and one of the architects of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's repression. Under the Soviet Union, Mariupol was known as Zhdanov between 1948 and 1989. Museum director Pavel Ignatev rejected accusations against his hero, saying that "historians... never found a document with the signature of Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov that authorised any kind of repression, execution or expulsion". - 'Constant shooting' - Outside the city centre, there are quiet roads with houses gutted by the fighting. Some doors still have bullet holes and signs in Russian saying "Children", "Residents" or "Bodies". Mariupol is still far from becoming the seaside resort Moscow wants. AFP reporters noted frequent power and water cuts in the city. Sergei, 52, lives with his dogs in a rundown house -- partly destroyed in the siege -- where weeds sprouted up in the garden. Sergei, who builds advertising billboards, said he had been to see local authorities three times to ask for compensation "but they themselves had no idea". "There were a lot of people there in the same situation as me who went to bother them with all sorts of questions," he said with a sigh. He abandoned his search. In independent and international media, there have been multiple allegations of corruption over the vast sums being poured into Mariupol's reconstruction. - Housing - City authorities in exile told AFP that the Russian-installed municipality is making lists of "ownerless" homes and apartments of residents who fled. The lists are sent to courts which give the property to people who stayed and whose housing was destroyed during the 2022 siege. Luisa Nalivay, director of the Mariupol branch of the real estate agent Ayax, boasted that her firm "has been present in Mariupol since the first day after the end of the fighting". She said the price per square metre of new housing has jumped from 85,000 rubles (around $1,050) in 2022 to 200,000 rubles ($2,500) now. Nalivay said the rise was due to the low interest rate of just two percent on mortgages offered by Moscow to Russians who move to Mariupol. The rate can rise to more than 20 percent in Russia. Nalivay said "many people" from Russian regions wanted to move to Mariupol. "There are people who come for work, fall in love with the city and its mild climate and decide to move here with their families," she said. She said the air quality has been particularly good since the "metal works are currently stopped". - Surveillance - That is what attracted Elena, who left Yekaterinburg in the Urals to buy a house in Mariupol last year. "It's an investment," said the tattooed beauty parlour worker, who wore XXL sunglasses. "Anywhere in the world which is by the sea, where people relax on the coast, there is going to be growth." But, far from the resort image that Moscow wants to project, surveillance and fear are omnipresent. A day after being interviewed, one resident who came across AFP reporters said an approach was made. "After I spoke to you, a big guy warned me against speaking to foreigners. I told him he could go and talk to the police if he wanted," said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I did not say anything incriminating," the person added, seeking reassurance.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Mariupol is diseased': Residents deny Russia's stories about occupied city
"What they're showing on Russian TV are fairy tales for fools. Most of Mariupol still lies in ruins," says John, a Ukrainian living in Russian-occupied Mariupol. We've changed his name as he fears reprisal from Russian authorities. "They are repairing the facades of the buildings on the main streets, where they bring cameras to shoot. But around the corner, there is rubble and emptiness. Many people still live in half-destroyed apartments with their walls barely standing," he says. It's been just over three years since Mariupol was taken by Russian forces after a brutal siege and indiscriminate bombardment – a key moment in the early months of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Thousands were killed, and the UN estimated 90% of residential buildings were damaged or destroyed. In recent months, videos and reels from several pro-Russia influencers have been painting a picture of a glossy city where damaged structures have been repaired and where life has gone back to normal. But the BBC has spoken to more than half a dozen people - some still living in Mariupol, others who escaped after spending time under occupation - to piece together a real picture of what life is like in the city. "There are a lot of lies floating around," says 66-year-old Olha Onyshko who escaped from Mariupol late last year and now lives in Ukraine's Ternopil. "I wouldn't say they [Russian authorities] have repaired a lot of things. There's a central square – only the buildings there have been reconstructed. And there are also empty spaces where buildings stood. They cleared the debris, but they didn't even separate out the dead bodies, they were just loaded on to trucks with the rubble and carried out of the city," she adds. Mariupol is also facing severe water shortages. "Water flows for a day or two, then it doesn't come for three days. We keep buckets and cans of water at home. The colour of the water is so yellow that even after boiling it, it's scary to drink it," says James, another Mariupol resident whose name has been changed. Some have even said the water looks like "coca cola". Serhii Orlov, who calls himself Mariupol's deputy mayor in exile, says the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas Canal which supplied water to the city was damaged during the fighting. "Only one reservoir was left supplying water to Mariupol. For the current population, that would've lasted for about a year and a half. Since occupation has lasted longer than that, it means there is no drinking water at all. The water people are using doesn't even meet the minimum drinking water standard," says Serhii. There are frequent power cuts, food is expensive, and medicines are scarce, residents tell us. "Basic medicines are not available. Diabetics struggle to get insulin on time, and it is crazy expensive," says James. The BBC has reached out to Mariupol's Russian administration for a response to the allegations about shortages and whether they had found an alternative source for water. We have not got a response so far. Despite the hardships the most difficult part of living in the city, residents say, is watching what Ukrainian children are being taught at school. Andrii Kozhushyna studied at a university in Mariupol for a year after it was occupied. Now he's escaped to Dnipro. "They are teaching children false information and propaganda. For example, school textbooks state that Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Odesa, Crimea and even Dnipropetrovsk regions are all already part of Russia," says Andrii. He also described special lessons called "Conversations about Important Things" in which students are taught about how Russia liberated the Russian-speaking population of these regions from Nazis in 2022. "Teachers who refuse to take these lessons are intimidated or fired. It's like they are reprogramming the minds of our children," says John, a Mariupol resident. During World War Two Victory Day celebrations in May, images from Mariupol's central square showed children and adults dressed up in military costumes participating in parades and performances – Soviet-era traditions that Ukraine had increasingly shunned are now being imposed in occupied territories. Mariupol was bathed in the colours of the Russian flag – red, blue and white. But some Ukrainians are waging a secret resistance against Russia, and in the dead of the night, they spray paint Ukrainian blue and yellow colours on walls, and also paste leaflets with messages like "Liberate Mariupol" and "Mariupol is Ukraine". James and John are both members of resistance groups, as was Andrii when he lived in the city. "The messages are meant as moral support for our people, to let them know that the resistance is alive," says James. Their main objective is collecting intelligence for the Ukrainian military. "I document information about Russian military movements. I analyse where they are transporting weapons, how many soldiers are entering and leaving the city, and what equipment is being repaired in our industrial areas. I take photos secretly, and keep them hidden until I can transmit them to Ukrainian intelligence through secure channels," says James. Occasionally, the resistance groups also try to sabotage civil or military operations. On at least two occasions, the railway line into Mariupol was disrupted because the signalling box was set on fire by activists. It's risky work. Andrii said he was forced to leave when he realised that he had been exposed. "Perhaps a neighbour snitched on me. But once when I was at a store buying bread, I saw a soldier showing my photo to the cashier asking if they knew who the person was," he said. He left immediately, slipping past Mariupol's checkposts and then travelling through numerous cities in Russia, and through Belarus, before entering Ukraine from the north. For those still in the city, each day is a challenge. "Every day you delete your messages because your phone can be checked at checkpoints. You're afraid to call your friends in Ukraine in case your phone is being tapped," says James. "A person from a neighbouring house was arrested right off the street because someone reported that he was allegedly passing information to the Ukrainian military. Your life is like a movie – a constant tension, fear, distrust," he adds. As talks continue between Ukraine and Russia, there have been suggestions from within and outside Ukraine that it would need to concede land in exchange for a peace deal. "Giving away territory for a 'deal with Russia' will be a betrayal. Dozens risk their lives every day to pass information to Ukraine, not so that some diplomat in a suit will sign a paper that will 'hand us over'," says John. "We don't want 'peace at any cost'. We want liberation." Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson, Anastasiia Levchenko, Volodymyr Lozhko and Sanjay Ganguly
BBC News
29-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Ukraine war: Mariupol residents deny Russian stories about the city
"What they're showing on Russian TV are fairy tales for fools. Most of Mariupol still lies in ruins," says John, a Ukrainian living in Russian-occupied Mariupol. We've changed his name as he fears reprisal from Russian authorities."They are repairing the facades of the buildings on the main streets, where they bring cameras to shoot. But around the corner, there is rubble and emptiness. Many people still live in half-destroyed apartments with their walls barely standing," he been just over three years since Mariupol was taken by Russian forces after a brutal siege and indiscriminate bombardment – a key moment in the early months of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Thousands were killed, and the UN estimated 90% of residential buildings were damaged or recent months, videos and reels from several pro-Russia influencers have been painting a picture of a glossy city where damaged structures have been repaired and where life has gone back to the BBC has spoken to more than half a dozen people - some still living in Mariupol, others who escaped after spending time under occupation - to piece together a real picture of what life is like in the city."There are a lot of lies floating around," says 66-year-old Olha Onyshko who escaped from Mariupol late last year and now lives in Ukraine's Ternopil. "I wouldn't say they [Russian authorities] have repaired a lot of things. There's a central square – only the buildings there have been reconstructed. And there are also empty spaces where buildings stood. They cleared the debris, but they didn't even separate out the dead bodies, they were just loaded on to trucks with the rubble and carried out of the city," she adds. Mariupol is also facing severe water shortages."Water flows for a day or two, then it doesn't come for three days. We keep buckets and cans of water at home. The colour of the water is so yellow that even after boiling it, it's scary to drink it," says James, another Mariupol resident whose name has been have even said the water looks like "coca cola".Serhii Orlov, who calls himself Mariupol's deputy mayor in exile, says the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas Canal which supplied water to the city was damaged during the fighting."Only one reservoir was left supplying water to Mariupol. For the current population, that would've lasted for about a year and a half. Since occupation has lasted longer than that, it means there is no drinking water at all. The water people are using doesn't even meet the minimum drinking water standard," says are frequent power cuts, food is expensive, and medicines are scarce, residents tell us."Basic medicines are not available. Diabetics struggle to get insulin on time, and it is crazy expensive," says BBC has reached out to Mariupol's Russian administration for a response to the allegations about shortages and whether they had found an alternative source for water. We have not got a response so the hardships the most difficult part of living in the city, residents say, is watching what Ukrainian children are being taught at Kozhushyna studied at a university in Mariupol for a year after it was occupied. Now he's escaped to Dnipro."They are teaching children false information and propaganda. For example, school textbooks state that Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Odesa, Crimea and even Dnipropetrovsk regions are all already part of Russia," says Andrii. He also described special lessons called "Conversations about Important Things" in which students are taught about how Russia liberated the Russian-speaking population of these regions from Nazis in 2022."Teachers who refuse to take these lessons are intimidated or fired. It's like they are reprogramming the minds of our children," says John, a Mariupol World War Two Victory Day celebrations in May, images from Mariupol's central square showed children and adults dressed up in military costumes participating in parades and performances – Soviet-era traditions that Ukraine had increasingly shunned are now being imposed in occupied territories. Mariupol was bathed in the colours of the Russian flag – red, blue and some Ukrainians are waging a secret resistance against Russia, and in the dead of the night, they spray paint Ukrainian blue and yellow colours on walls, and also paste leaflets with messages like "Liberate Mariupol" and "Mariupol is Ukraine".James and John are both members of resistance groups, as was Andrii when he lived in the city."The messages are meant as moral support for our people, to let them know that the resistance is alive," says main objective is collecting intelligence for the Ukrainian military."I document information about Russian military movements. I analyse where they are transporting weapons, how many soldiers are entering and leaving the city, and what equipment is being repaired in our industrial areas. I take photos secretly, and keep them hidden until I can transmit them to Ukrainian intelligence through secure channels," says James. Occasionally, the resistance groups also try to sabotage civil or military operations. On at least two occasions, the railway line into Mariupol was disrupted because the signalling box was set on fire by risky work. Andrii said he was forced to leave when he realised that he had been exposed."Perhaps a neighbour snitched on me. But once when I was at a store buying bread, I saw a soldier showing my photo to the cashier asking if they knew who the person was," he left immediately, slipping past Mariupol's checkposts and then travelling through numerous cities in Russia, and through Belarus, before entering Ukraine from the those still in the city, each day is a challenge."Every day you delete your messages because your phone can be checked at checkpoints. You're afraid to call your friends in Ukraine in case your phone is being tapped," says James. "A person from a neighbouring house was arrested right off the street because someone reported that he was allegedly passing information to the Ukrainian military. Your life is like a movie – a constant tension, fear, distrust," he talks continue between Ukraine and Russia, there have been suggestions from within and outside Ukraine that it would need to concede land in exchange for a peace deal."Giving away territory for a 'deal with Russia' will be a betrayal. Dozens risk their lives every day to pass information to Ukraine, not so that some diplomat in a suit will sign a paper that will 'hand us over'," says John."We don't want 'peace at any cost'. We want liberation."Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson, Anastasiia Levchenko, Volodymyr Lozhko and Sanjay Ganguly
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Russia tells Ukrainians in occupied areas to get Russian passport or leave
For more than three years, every time 67-year-old Iryna and her husband stepped beyond their front door, the Ukrainian couple feared for their lives. They could be caught up in shelling or in a drone strike — or end up being interrogated by security agents at gunpoint as they tried to cross a checkpoint in the southern part of Kherson region, an area still under Russian control. The couple, who had been living under occupation since the early days of Russia's invasion, initially refused to get a Russian passport even as Moscow made it increasingly difficult to survive without them. "Everything was becoming harder and harder," said Iryna during an interview with CBC News last month. "You felt like you were in a cage." Iryna, who CBC News agreed to identify only by her first name due to her concerns about retribution from Russia, said she and her husband felt they had no choice but to get Russian passports last year. That was when the local stores closed and it became impossible to get groceries without going through a Russian checkpoint. Like many other Ukrainians, she and her husband accepted Russian citizenship because they feared what would happen if they didn't. It is part of what human rights experts see as a widespread campaign of coercion that's designed to extend Moscow's influence over the occupied territories, areas it demands Ukraine relinquish as part of any potential peace deal. At the same time, the Kremlin has refused to implement a 30-day ceasefire, and Russian forces have recently launched a new offensive to try and take more Ukrainian land. According to Moscow, 3.5 million residents living in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson have received passports. While Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country had "virtually completed" the mass issuance of passports in these areas, he signed a presidential decree in March to target the few Ukrainians still holding out. Ukrainians who live in Russia, or the areas it purports to control, have to legalize their status by Sept. 10 — or leave their homes. Though these Ukrainian regions aren't fully controlled by Russia, Moscow attempted to justify its claim to them by staging "sham" referendums in September 2022 that were condemned by world leaders. Its passport policy is an extension of that strategy, considered an attempt to weaken Ukrainian sovereignty and a clear sign that Moscow has no intention of giving up the territory it now occupies. Russia has previously used its fast-track passport scheme as a geopolitical tool in other areas, including in thebreakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia and in Moldova's separatist Transdniestria region. After Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, it distributed Russian passports in a widespread campaign. At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Iryna and her husband were living in a cottage on an island in the Dnipro River Delta in the Kherson region. The area was seized by Russia during the first week of the war. When Ukrainian forces retook part of Kherson, including Kherson City in November 2022, Iryna said Russia's soldiers ordered her and other residents to evacuate further south. She and her husband ended up living in someone else's house in the village of Stara Zbur'ivka, located along the south side of the Dnipro river. They tried to avoid interacting with the Russian soldiers, Iryna told CBC News, but having to cross a Russian checkpoint each time they needed groceries or supplies meant they would be grilled by those manning it. "They kept asking 'Why are you not taking a passport, are you waiting for the Ukrainian military to return?'" said Iryna. On one occasion, she said, a soldier pointed a gun at her husband's head while questioning him. "It was no longer possible without them," she said of getting a Russian passport. "It was just dangerous." When Iryna and her husband decided to leave Kherson in March, they used their Russian passports as they travelled into Crimea and then Russia. At that point, she said, a local underground network of volunteers helped them get back to Ukraine by going through Belarus. Now living in Dnipro, the couple said they have no use for the passports Russia imposed on them. Even before Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Moscow was trying to entice Ukrainians with citizenship. Putinsigned a decree speeding up the process for those living in the self-proclaimed regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which were then controlled by Russian-backed separatists. By July 2022, the Kremlin announced that all Ukrainian citizens were eligible to receive passports under the fast-track scheme. According to Human Rights Watch, the passports were distributed through anillegal pressure campaign, in which Russian authorities threatened to detain Ukrainian citizens or confiscate property if they didn't accept a passport. Russia has made it increasingly impossible to live without the document in the territory it occupies, requiring it to access state services, including pension payments, education and health care. During a six-month period in 2023, the international organization Physicians for Human Rights documented at least 15 cases of people being denied medical care, because they lived in the occupied territories and didn't have a Russian passport. The group said some hospitals even set up a desk so desperate patients could fill out the necessary paperwork right there. Ivan, a co-ordinator with the Yellow Ribbon resistance campaign that's active in the occupied territories, told CBC News that through the first few years of the Russian invasion, he and other volunteers advised residents about how to avoid accepting a Russian passport. CBC News agreed not to identify him by his last name, given his work in the occupied territories and the possibility of retribution by Russian authorities. In 2023, the resistance group ran an information campaign about steps Ukrainian citizens could take to prevent their flats or other real estate from being confiscated if they didn't have Russian citizenship. But he said as Russia ramped up restrictions, the messaging changed. "We are recommending that people take a Russian passport because you basically need it if you want to survive," he said during a Zoom interview in April. "You could be arrested or detained ... just because you don't have it." While he and others try to reassure residents that getting a passport is "no big deal" and they can later relinquish their Russian citizenship, he acknowledges that it could mean that men who are new citizens could be drafted into the country's military. Ivan, who graduated from university in information technology in 2021, was living in Kherson City when it was invaded by Russia. At the time, he had lost his Ukrainian passport, so he ended up being issued a Russian legal document. After the liberation of Kherson City, Ivan went to the northern part of the country, before later taking a route through Russia to enter the Russian-occupied part of the Ukrainian territory of Zaporizhzhia. He told CBC News he had relatives living in the area that he needed to bring passports to, and he helped a few local activists there stage non-violent resistance campaigns by tying yellow ribbons to trees and distributing information pamphlets. But he acknowledges he only knows of a few people in the occupied areas who haven't yet taken a Russian passport. "Even they know that they will have to accept a passport if the occupation continues."
