Russian officials declared they’ve completed issuing passports to Ukrainians in Moscow-controlled areas, a move Kyiv condemns as an illegal erasure of Ukrainian identity.
Since its 2022 full-scale invasion, Russia has pressed residents in Ukraine’s south and east to take Russian citizenship, with Russia Ukraine passports now totaling 3.5 million, per Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev.
President Vladimir Putin boasted to interior ministry officials in Moscow, “Last year, we nearly fully passportized Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.”
Putin Says Russia "Completed" Issuing Passports To Locals In Occupied Ukrainehttps://t.co/wCs4rTXK8N pic.twitter.com/sQpW7sT5EB
— NDTV WORLD (@NDTVWORLD) March 5, 2025Refusers face curbs on movement and access to Russian-run services like healthcare and education, branded as “foreign citizens.” Russia annexed these regions in 2022, despite incomplete control, building on pre-invasion citizenship offers in separatist-held Donetsk and Lugansk.
Ukraine slams the Russia Ukraine passports process as a “gross violation of sovereignty.” Western governments and rights groups echo the outrage, and the EU rejects these passports as valid travel IDs. The policy fuels tensions, spotlighting Moscow’s grip on occupied zones.
The Russia Ukraine passports saga marks a bold identity shift, with 3.5 million forced into Russia’s fold.
