Author: Karolina Hird

Data cut-off: 1:30 pm EST, June 11

 
ISW’s Russian Occupation Update tracks the activities that occur in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. The occupation updates will examine Russian efforts to consolidate administrative control of annexed areas and forcibly integrate Ukrainian citizens into Russian sociocultural, economic, military, and governance systems. This product line replaces the section of the Daily Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment covering activities in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
 
To read ISW’s assessment of how Russian activities in occupied areas of Ukraine are part of a coerced Russification and ethnic cleansing campaign, click here.  

Key Takeaways:

• Occupied Crimea is poised to face a severe water crisis in the coming months, a crisis that the Russian occupation of Crimea has precipitated and which ongoing Russian mismanagement and resource misallocation will exacerbate.
• Russia is intensifying filtration processes against Ukrainians, greatly restricting their freedom of movement and their ability to leave occupied Ukraine.
• Kherson Oblast occupation officials continue efforts to consolidate control over the oblast’s agricultural output for Russia’s economic gain.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky approved sanctions on June 10 targeting numerous Russian officials and organizations for their role in the deportation and adoption of Ukrainian children. The sanctions list supports ISW’s assessment of the links between high-ranking Kremlin officials, Russian youth organizations, and the widescale deportation of Ukrainian children.
• The Russian “University Shifts” program has begun summer sessions, facilitating the deportation of Ukrainian children and teenagers to participate in university classes at schools throughout the Russian Federation.

Occupied Crimea is poised to face a severe water crisis in the coming months, a crisis that the Russian occupation of Crimea has precipitated and which ongoing Russian mismanagement and resource misallocation will exacerbate. Head of the Department of Chemical Technologies of Water Use at the Russian-founded Crimean Federal University Ilya Nikolenko stated in an interview with Russian media on June 5 that reservoirs in occupied Crimea lost 11 million cubic meters of water in May 2025 alone.[1] Nikolenko noted that water reservoirs in Crimea are operating at about 50 percent of maximum volume, compared to 75 percent at the same time in 2024.[2] Nikolenko warned that the current rates of the depletion of Crimea’s water reserves presage an acute water crisis reminiscent of the 2020-2021 water shortages.[3] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Crimea Service Krym Realli reported on June 6 that the Bilohirsk Reservoir (in southeastern Crimea about 35km east of Sevastopol) began to rapidly lose water in recent weeks due to the onset of hot weather and resulting increased water consumption throughout Crimea.[4] Russian occupation officials are clearly aware of the looming water crisis, but are nevertheless continuing efforts to attract Russian tourists to Crimea for the summer season. Head of the Committee on Ecology and Natural Resources in the Crimean occupation parliament Svetlana Shabelnikova claimed that Russia will provide Crimea with 60 percent of its needed drinking water this summer despite supply challenges, and that resort towns in southern Crimea will be “supplied drinking water without interruption.”[5] It remains unclear how the Russian occupation administration intends to supply the 40 percent shortfall of potable water, but Shabelnikova’s statements make it evident that Russian authorities are prioritizing water supply for tourist hotspots, potentially leaving hundreds of thousands of people who do not live in or near resort towns without reliable water supply.

Russia as a belligerent occupying power is obliged by international law to provide for the health of the population it occupies, which extends to the provision of basic goods and services such as drinking water.[6] Ukraine initially shut off water supply to Crimea via the North Crimean Canal as a form of sanction when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014.[7] Russia then struggled with maintaining water supply, particularly as it inundated the peninsula with Russian service members and re-located Russian civilians to Crimea, all of which added strain on already limited water resources.[8] Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has  mismanaged water infrastructure in Crimea, failed to invest in alternative water sources, continued diverting water resources to military needs, and mired water projects corruption scandals.[9] Russia’s June 2023 destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (KHPP) dam further severely limited water supplies to Crimea.[10] Despite mounting water concerns, Russian officials continue to insist on bringing Russian tourism to the occupied peninsula, which will likely further stretch scarce water resources and disproportionately impact Ukrainian residents.[11]

Russia is intensifying filtration processes against Ukrainians, greatly restricting their freedom of movement and their ability to leave occupied Ukraine. Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti reported on June 8 that it reviewed a dozen Russian court documents that say that signs of deleting information from mobile phones can be considered a valid reason to deny entry of Ukrainian citizens into Russia.[12] RIA Novosti claimed that there have been instances of Ukrainian citizens arriving at border checkpoints having clearly deleted information from chats, photo galleries, and contacts. Russian law enforcement officials are now allowed to take the absence of evidence as actual evidence to detain and prosecute Ukrainian citizens. These new measures will impact Ukrainians travelling from Ukrainian-controlled areas to Russia for a variety of reasons, but will most adversely impact residents of occupied Ukraine. The only way for residents of occupied Ukraine to leave occupied territories is through Russia, which requires passing through Russian border checkpoints and undergoing filtration measures.[13] Russian filtration processes include checking personal devices for any evidence of pro-Ukrainian sentiment—for which the punishment is arrest and detention on a variety of “terrorism” charges.[14] The new rules on searches for deleted content will make it even more dangerous for Ukrainians to attempt to leave occupation via Russia. Russian officials also physically require Ukrainian residents to come to Russia for a variety of bureaucratic procedures, and these new content deletion rules will make it even more dangerous for them to do so.

Kherson Oblast occupation officials continue efforts to consolidate control over the oblast’s agricultural output for Russia’s economic gain. Kherson Oblast occupation head Vladimir Saldo met with Head of the Russian-founded Kherson Grain Company Sergei Kiva on June 7 to discuss the occupation administration’s support for agricultural producers in occupied Kherson Oblast.[15] Russia registered the Kherson Grain Company as a state unitary enterprise in June 2022 and has since used it to exploit revenue generated by grain producers in occupied Kherson Oblast.[16] Kiva told Saldo that specialists from the Kherson Grain Company are “helping” farmers “re-register” their land—likely meaning that farmers are having to register their land, and their crop yield, with Russian administrative organs, which will enable the occupation administration to profit off of their agricultural yield. The Ukrainian Resistance Center warned that the Kherson Grain Company is centralizing the agricultural market and forcing Ukrainian farmers to be beholden to the company and the occupation administration for revenue without the option of seeking fair market prices.[17] ISW has previously reported on Russian efforts to steal grain from occupied Ukraine and sell it to international markets via occupied Black Sea ports.[18] Russian state-owned enterprises such as the Kherson Grain Company are facilitating these efforts.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky approved sanctions on June 10 targeting numerous Russian officials and organizations for their role in the deportation and adoption of Ukrainian children.[19] The sanctions list names nearly 50 individuals and nine Russian organizations whom Ukraine has designated as involved in the deportation and adoption of Ukrainian children, including the head of the Crimean branch of Yunarmia (Young Russian Cadets National Movement) Sergei Havrilchuk and Kaluga Oblast Commissioner on Children’s Rights Irina Ageeva.[20] Zelensky also sanctioned the “Artek” International Children’s Center in occupied Crimea and the “Movement of the First” youth organization, including its occupied Kherson Oblast branch, for their involvement in deporting and indoctrinating Ukrainian children. ISW has written at length on the role of “Artek” and “Movement of the First” in the broader Russian deportation and indoctrination ecosystem, and the new Ukrainian sanctions lists supports ISW’s assessment of the links between high-ranking Kremlin officials, Russian youth organizations, and the widescale deportation of Ukrainian children.[21]

The Russian “University Shifts” program has begun summer sessions, facilitating the deportation of Ukrainian children and teenagers to participate in university classes at schools throughout the Russian Federation. The Russian Ministry of Education announced on June 6 that the fourth season of the “University Shifts” program has begun and that over 16,000 children aged 14 to 17, including children from occupied Ukraine, will take part of the program in coming months.[22] “University Shifts” will hold nine sessions this summer. 570 children from occupied Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts are taking part in the first session, and Russian officials announced in April that they plan for a total of 2,000 children from occupied Ukraine to take part in “University Shifts” in Summer 2025.[23] Russian outlet Interfax reported on June 10 that a group of 48 school children from occupied Donetsk Oblast arrived in Ufa, Republic of Bashkortostan, to attend classes at the Bashkir State Pedagogical University.[24] ISW previously noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally praised “University Shifts” for exposing Ukrainian children to Russian values, traditions, and culture—highlighting the fact that “University Shifts” is part of the Kremlin’s wider Russification toolkit.[25] Russia is using “University Shifts” to deport Ukrainian children to Russia with the purpose of indoctrinating them and integrating them into Russian society via the educational system.

[1] https://www.crimea dot kp.ru/online/news/6410314/?ysclid=mbktk99xmo727019586

[2] https://injir dot org/ua/u-krimu-strimko-zmenshuyutsya-zapasi-prisnoyi-vodi-za-traven-zniklo-11-milyoniv-kubiv-10-06-2025/

[3] https://injir dot org/ua/u-krimu-strimko-zmenshuyutsya-zapasi-prisnoyi-vodi-za-traven-zniklo-11-milyoniv-kubiv-10-06-2025/

[4] https://ru dot krymr.com/a/news-klrym-belogorskoye-vodokhranilishche-padeniye-urovnya-vody/33435993.html

[5] https://ua.krymr dot com/a/news-krym-zabezpechennya-pytnoyu-vodoyu-na-60-vidsotkiv/33438748.html

[6] https://pism.pl/publications/Water_Shortages_in_Occupied_Crimea#:~:text=The%20peninsula%20has%20suffered%20from%20a%20chronic,received%20up%20to%2085%%20of%20its%20water.

[7] https://archive.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/whats-up-with-the-crimea-water-crisis-explainer.html

[8] https://archive.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/whats-up-with-the-crimea-water-crisis-explainer.html

[9] https://jamestown.org/program/water-shortages-in-russian-occupied-crimea-set-to-trigger-mass-outmigration/; https://uwecworkgroup.info/the-thirsty-peninsula-how-much-water-will-crimea-need-in-the-future/

[10] https://ehorussia dot com/new/node/29729

[11] https://ctrcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ekologichnyj-zvit-2022_ukr_compressed.pdf

[12] https://ria dot ru/20250608/prichiny-2021606520.html

[13] https://euneighbourseast.eu/news/stories/the-way-out-of-an-occupied-home-how-to-leave-the-temporarily-occupied-territories-and-what-dangers-you-should-take-into-account/

[14] https://2021-2025.state.gov/russias-filtration-operations-and-forced-relocations/; https://press.un.org/en/2022/sc15023.doc.htm

[15] https://t.me/SALDO_VGA/7764

[16] https://www.rusprofile dot ru/id/1229500007593; https://t.me/sprotyv_official/7103

[17] https://t.me/sprotyv_official/7103

[18] https://isw.pub/OccupationUpdate060425; https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-occupation-update-april-24-2025

[19] https://www.president.gov dot ua/documents/3952025-55317; https://kyivindependent.com/zelensky-imposes-sanctions-against-individuals-organizations-involved-in-deportation-of-ukrainian-children/

[20] https://hromadske dot ua/polityka/246266-zelenskyy-vviv-sanktsiyi-proty-rosiian-prychetnykh-do-deportatsiyi-ta-perevykhovannia-ditey

[21] https://isw.pub/OccupationUpdate060425; https://isw.pub/OccupationUpdate051525; https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-occupation-update-april-28-2025; https://isw.pub/Occupation Update041725; https://understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/24-210-01%20ISW%20Occupation%20playbook.pdf

[22] https://minobrnauki.gov dot ru/press-center/news/novosti-ministerstva/97668/; https://isw.pub/Occupation Update041725

[23] https://minobrnauki.gov dot ru/press-center/news/novosti-ministerstva/97668/

[24] https://www.interfax-russia dot ru/academia/news/universitetskaya-smena-otkrylas-v-bashkirii-dlya-detey-iz-dnr

[25] https://isw.pub/Occupation Update041725