Russian Occupation Updates Page

Apr 3, 2025 - ISW Press

This page collects ISW's Russian Occupation Updates.

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 is intended to replace the section of the Daily Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment covering activities in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

Click here for the Ukraine Conflict Updates page.
 
 
 

Russian occupation update; April 14, 2025.  

Click here to read the full report

Author: Karolina Hird 

Data cut-off: 11:15am EST, April 13

Key takeaways:  

  • Russia is using occupied Ukraine to support its domestic drone development and production industry.
  • Russia is also integrating Ukrainian children into its wider drone operator training and drone production ecosystem.
  • Russian occupation administrators are implementing projects to increase the birth rate in occupied Ukraine and further Russia’s illegitimate claims to the territories it illegally occupies.
  • Russia is deporting Ukrainian prisoners from prisons in occupied Ukraine to penal colonies throughout the Russian Federation.

Russia is using occupied Ukraine to support its domestic drone development and production industry. The Ukrainian Eastern Human Rights Group (EHRG) and Institute for Strategic Research and Security (ISRS) released a report on April 3 detailing how Russia is using land, infrastructure, and people in occupied Ukraine to expand drone development, production, and operator training.[1] EHRG and ISRS reported that Russian state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec has seized the Luhansk Aircraft Repair Plant (occupied Luhansk City, Luhansk Oblast) and the Snizhne Machine-Building Plant (occupied Snizhne, Donetsk Oblast) and is producing drones at both enterprises.[2] The report noted that Russia is also using the Donbas Development Corporation, Vladimir Zhoga Republican Center for Unmanned Systems, LLC 3D-Techno, LLC NPO Front, LLC NPO Utesov, GC Almaz, and IP Grigoriadiadis (all in occupied Donetsk City) and the JSC Pervomaiske Mechanical Plant (occupied Pervomaiske, Luhansk Oblast) to produce components and assemble drone models for the Russian army. Russia is also using occupied Ukrainian land to build new drone training grounds, start technological preparatory courses in schools and colleges to train drone operators, and create new research and development centers. The Kremlin has routinely signaled its commitment to increasing Russian drone production capabilities and improving drone operations on the battlefield in Ukraine and appears to have plans to integrate Ukrainian infrastructure and production capabilities into its wider drone production campaign.[3]

Russia is also integrating Ukrainian children into its wider drone operator training and drone production ecosystem. The EHRG and ISRS report emphasized that Russia has instituted drone training curricula for over 10,000 teenagers in secondary schools throughout occupied Ukraine.[4] Primary school-aged children are also subjected to drone training in schools and extracurricular programs.[5] Russia incentivizes children’s participation in drone training in part by “gamifying” the process and holding drone racing competitions throughout occupied Ukraine. The Kherson Oblast occupation Sports Ministry, for example, hosted its first drone racing tournament for children aged eight to 14 in occupied Skadovsk in May 2024.[6] The Ukrainian Resistance Center also previously reported that Russian officials began a “special engineering class” in occupied Mariupol’s School 47 to teach students how to design and manufacture drones for the Russian army.[7] Russian efforts to integrate Ukrainian children into drone production and operator training programs serve three main purposes: first to militarize Ukrainian children by exposing them to hyper-militarized ideals from a young age; second, to prepare Ukrainian children for potential future service in the Russian armed forces; and third, to support Russia’s domestic defense industrial base (DIB) output.

Russian occupation administrators are implementing projects to increase the birth rate in occupied Ukraine in order to stimulate population growth and further Russia’s illegitimate claims to the territories it illegally occupies. Zaporizhia Oblast occupation head Yevgeny Balitsky reported on April 11 that he issued draft orders for a regional program to increase the birth rate in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast.[8] The specifics of the proposed regional program are unclear, but Balitsky’s proposal is consistent with other projects that Russian occupation officials have undertaken to encourage population growth in occupied areas.[9] Kherson Oblast occupation head Vladimir Saldo stated on April 11 that Russia plans to reopen all kindergartens in occupied Kherson Oblast by 2030 and build 55 new preschools for 6,700 children by 2044.[10] Saldo noted that the planned new preschools “are designed for [to accommodate] population growth.”

Russia has been reckoning with a demographic crisis at home for several decades, caused by declining birthrates, relatively lower life expectancies, high emigration levels, and an aging population.[11] The war in Ukraine has exacerbated many of these factors, but Russia continues efforts to stimulate population growth to overcome pre-existing and new demographic challenges.[12] ISW previously assessed that Russia’s occupation of Ukraine is intended in part to offset Russia’s demographic decline, as Russia sees Ukrainian citizens as a demographic asset that can be forcibly integrated into the Russian Federation.[13] Russian occupation authorities have historically used methods such as the provision of social services like maternity capital (one-time payments made to women for the birth or adoption of a child beyond their first) to encourage higher birth rates in occupied Ukraine.[14] Higher birthrates in occupied areas mean that Russian occupation authorities will grant more Russian citizenships and raise a generation of children under Russian rule—ultimately creating the false impression that Russia has a right to these illegally occupied areas due to the prevalence of Russian citizens living there.

Russia is deporting Ukrainian prisoners from prisons in occupied Ukraine to penal colonies throughout the Russian Federation. Russian independent investigative outlet Mozhem Obyasnit (We Can Explain) published a story on April 11 examining how Russia has deported over 1,800 prisoners from Ukraine to penal colonies in Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion.[15] Mozhem Obyasnit found that Russian forces deported the prisoners from Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts in the early days of the invasion and interned them in at least 11 penal colonies in Krasnodar Krai, Rostov Oblast, the Mordovia Republic, and occupied Crimea. Deported prisoners reported that Russian guards beat and tortured them for being Ukrainian. Russian guards also reportedly attempt to bribe Ukrainian prisoners with shorter and more lenient sentences if they take Russian passports — suggesting that Russian efforts to deport Ukrainian prisoners are part of Russia’s larger passportization campaign. Ukrainian human rights groups have previously raised concerns about Russia’s treatment of deported prisoners and noted that Russia has purposefully made it very difficult for Ukraine to repatriate these individuals.[16] All of the prisoners that Russia has deported are Ukrainian citizens whom Ukrainian courts convicted of crimes under Ukrainian criminal law, so Russia has no legal basis on which to deport or re-convict these individuals, much less to forcibly change their citizenship.[17]

Russian Occupation Update, April 10, 2025

Click here to read the full report

Author: Karolina Hird

Data cut-off: 1pm EST April 9

Key takeaways:  

  • Russian occupation administrations are seizing property throughout occupied Ukraine.
  • Russia continues to crack down against the Crimean Tatar community in occupied Crimea, often using dubious legal charges to prosecute and detain Crimean Tatars.
  • Children throughout occupied Ukraine are taking part in the “Zarnitsa 2.0” military-patriotic game—a revived Soviet-era war game aimed at training youth in basic military skills in eventual preparation for service in the Russian military. 

Russian occupation administrations are seizing property throughout occupied Ukraine in order to collect personal information on residents of occupied areas, conduct coerced passportization, and facilitate the relocation of Russian citizens to occupied areas of Ukraine. The Mariupol City occupation administration published updated lists on April 4 and 7 of residential and non-residential properties in Mariupol classified as “ownerless.”[1] The administration instructs residents of Mariupol to submit an application to the occupation Housing and Utilities Department within 30 days of the lists’ publication in order to have ownership restored. The Zaporizhia Oblast occupation administration similarly reported in late March that it is checking properties throughout occupied Zaporizhia Oblast to determine ownership status.[2] The Zaporizhia Oblast occupation administration directed residents of occupied areas to present a Russian passport and other documentation to claim ownership of any property classified as “ownerless.”

Ukrainian officials immediately voiced concerns about the Russian property inventory process. Ukrainian Zaporizhia Oblast Administration Head Ivan Fedorov noted that Russian officials “nationalize” property that they have determined to be “ownerless,” and then auction off property to make a profit.[3] Fedorov also noted that, in some cases, Russian occupation administrators will sell the "stolen" property to Russian soldiers, occupation officials, and other Russian citizens, regardless of whether a Ukrainian resident legally owns the property or not. The Ukrainian Resistance Center suggested that this issue is particularly acute in Mariupol, reporting that the number of properties registered as “ownerless” and nationalized by the occupation administration in 2024 was 5.5 times higher than in 2023.[4] Ukrainian Mariupol Mayoral Advisor Petro Andryushchenko also suggested that Russian officials often falsify ownership documents and property titles in order to deprive  Ukrainians of their homes.[5]

Russian occupation officials are likely seizing and nationalizing property in occupied Ukraine to accomplish three objectives. First, the mass nationalization of Ukrainian property lets the Russian government directly profit from the occupation of Ukraine’s towns and cities. The Russian occupation administration in Crimea made an estimated 4.8 billion rubles ($56 million) from nationalizing Ukrainian property in Crimea between 2022 and 2024 alone, for example.[6] Russia can benefit greatly from extracting economic value from occupied Ukraine to support its struggling domestic economy, as ISW has previously observed.[7] Second, the process of registering properties as “ownerless” facilitates personal data collection and supports passportization efforts. Residents of properties that the occupation administration has classified as “ownerless” must present personal information and documentation to occupation authorities to restore their ownership. The registration process also requires people to present Russian passports, meaning that residents may feel pressured to obtain Russian citizenship out of fear of losing their homes.[8] Finally, the seizure of property from Ukrainian residents allows Russian occupation administrations to give that property to Russian citizens, facilitating the illegal relocation of Russian citizens to occupied areas of Ukraine from Russia.[9]

Russia continues to crack down against the Crimean Tatar community in occupied Crimea, often using dubious legal charges to prosecute and detain Crimean Tatars. The Russian Southern District Court in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast, requested 17 years imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony for a group of six Crimean Tatar men from occupied Dzhankoi on April 8.[10] The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and other law enforcement agents detained the men during a raid in January 2023 on “terrorist” charges due to their alleged involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir—an international pan-Islamic fundamentalist organization that has historically been active in Central Asia and Crimea and that is banned in Russia. Crimean human rights organizations that reviewed the case materials of the “Dzhankoi Six” noted that there was no evidence that the men were planning for or preparing to commit any sort of terror attack and that the Russian occupation administration is prosecuting them because of their Crimean Tatar identities and their involvement in Muslim community organizations.[11]

The Crimean occupation administration has frequently targeted Crimean Tatar communities on tenuous “terrorism” charges, promoting the claim that Crimean Tatar identity is inherently dangerous by affiliating it with Hizb ut-Tahrir.[12] The Russian occupation Supreme Court of Crimea additionally sentenced another Crimean Tatar man to five years in prison on April 4 on the charge of communicating with the Ukrainian military.[13] Chairman of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis Refat Chubarov warned on April 1 that the FSB launched a new wave of mass searches and repressive actions against Crimean Tatars, breaking into homes and seizing personal documents from various Crimean Tatar households.[14]

Children throughout occupied Ukraine are taking part in the “Zarnitsa 2.0” military-patriotic game—a revived Soviet-era war game aimed at training youth in basic military skills in eventual preparation for service in the Russian military. “Zarnitsa 2.0” brands itself as an “all-Russian military-patriotic game in a qualitatively new, modern format using digital technologies,” intended to teach children aged seven to 17 “traditional values” and “modern challenges” such as cyber warfare and drone operations.[15] Children and youth registered in “Zarnitsa 2.0” create squad-sized “detachments” that compete against other “detachments” for points and ranking on a national leaderboard, which notably includes teams from occupied Ukraine. “Zarnitsa 2.0” is a creation of the Russian Movement of the First and Yunarmia (Young Army Cadets National Movement) youth military-patriotic movements, both of which have active presences in occupied Ukraine and strive to militarize Ukrainian youth via various military-patriotic education and training courses.[16] The municipal (city-level) stage of “Zarnitsa 2.0” competitions is currently underway in Russia and occupied Ukraine until April 16.[17] “Zarnitsa 2.0” competitions concluded in some towns in occupied Luhansk Oblast on April 9, including in occupied Bilovodsk and Sverdlovsk.[18] Over 12,000 youth from occupied Luhansk Oblast alone reportedly registered for “Zarnitsa 2.0” in February and March 2025.[19] “Zarnitsa 2.0” is part of a wider Russian ecosystem operating throughout occupied Ukraine with the explicit purpose of militarizing Ukrainian children, indoctrinating them against their Ukrainian identities, and training them to fight for the Russian military against their fellow Ukrainians.[20]

Russian Occupation Update, April 8, 2025

Click here to read the full report, with maps

Author: Karolina Hird 

Contributor: Jessica Sobieski

Data cut-off: 11:30 am EST April 6.
 
ISW is introducing a new product line tracking activities in 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 is intended to replace the section of the Daily Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment covering activities in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
 
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:

  • The Kremlin is using the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to consolidate social control over occupied areas of Ukraine and destroy any semblance of religious freedom.
  • Russian officials discussed plans for the continued forced absorption of occupied Ukraine into the Russian economy during the “Integration-2025” forum.
  • Russian federal censor Roskomnadzor issued an order on March 31 that will likely contribute to further crackdowns against pro-Ukrainian sentiment and dissent in occupied Ukraine.
  • Russia continues to weaponize the school system in occupied Ukraine to Russify and militarize Ukrainian children and eradicate Ukrainian identity.

The Kremlin is using the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to consolidate social control over occupied areas of Ukraine and destroy any semblance of religious freedom. Russian opposition outlet Novaya Gazeta Evropa published a report on April 3 detailing how the Kremlin-controlled ROC is targeting religious communities, particularly those affiliated with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), thereby serving as a tool of the Russian occupation administration throughout occupied Ukraine.[1] Novaya Gazeta Evropa found that Russian shelling and airstrikes, as well as bans and other repressive measures, decreased the total number of religious communities in occupied Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts from 1,957 before the full-scale invasion to 902 currently operating. This figure does not include data on religious communities in occupied Crimea, which have faced Russian religious oppression for over a decade.[2] Novaya Gazeta Evropa noted that Ukrainian Christians, especially members of the OCU, face particularly intense oppression at the hands of the ROC. The investigation found that over 51 percent of churches destroyed since 2022 have been OCU churches, likely because the ROC sees the OCU as its biggest “competitor.” The OCU has been entirely independent from the ROC Moscow-Patriarchate since 2019.[3] The ROC frequently seizes OCU churches that remained undamaged and appropriates them for ROC services or to cater to the needs of occupying Russian military personnel. Russian forces have also kidnapped, tortured, deported, and even killed OCU priests in a campaign of “systemic repression” against OCU clergy.[4] Novaya Gazeta Evropa found that as a result of the ROC’s repressive policies, OCU functions in occupied Ukraine have “been completely stopped.” Novaya Gazeta Evropa also found that Russia has essentially “eliminated” the presence of non-Orthodox religious communities in occupied Ukraine, including those associated with Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism, with Catholic and Protestant communities facing types and levels of oppression similar to those the OCU faces. ISW has reported at length on Russian efforts to persecute religious minorities, particularly Christian communities, in occupied Ukraine as part of the Kremlin’s wider occupation campaign.[5]

Click here to read ISW’s 2023 report on Russia’s religious repressions throughout occupied Ukraine.

Russian officials discussed plans for the continued forced absorption of occupied Ukraine into the Russian economy during the “Integration-2025” forum. “Integration-2025” took place in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast, from April 4 to 5 and focused on “prospects for the development of the historical regions of Russia.”[6] Russian officials frequently invoke the concept of “historical regions” of Russia to further their illegitimate and illegal claims to occupied Ukraine. The forum placed particular emphasis on Russian investment into industrial enterprises in occupied Ukraine, Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Head Denis Pushilin, for example, claimed that the Russian government plans to invest eight billion rubles ($93 million) into the restoration and modernization of metallurgical enterprises in occupied Donetsk Oblast alone.[7] The Russian Ministry of Construction, Housing, and Communal Services reported during the forum that 29 Russian state companies and 82 Russian federal subjects (regions) are providing financial assistance to development projects in occupied Ukraine.[8] Russian investment in economically productive industries in occupied Ukraine allows Russia to take ownership of Ukraine’s industrial assets, which forcibly integrates these assets into the Russian economy while robbing Ukraine of the potential to benefit from them in the long term. ISW has previously reported on Russian efforts to use infrastructure projects and investment into industry in occupied Ukraine in order to create multigenerational economic dependencies on the Russian government.[9] This issue is particularly salient as the Russian economy continues to struggle as the costs of the war in Ukraine mount.[10] Russia will continue to use the economic potential of occupied Ukraine as an offset for its domestic economic struggles.

Russian federal censor Roskomnadzor issued an order on March 31 that will likely contribute to further crackdowns against pro-Ukrainian sentiment and dissent in occupied Ukraine.[11] The Roskomnadzor order, which has not yet entered into force as of April 7, will require all telecommunications operators to continuously collect and send information about users’ internet activity to Russian federal control bodies in all Russian regions, including those which Russia has illegally occupied.[12] The collected information includes users’ IP addresses, geolocation data, device identifiers, and software information.[13] Representation of the Ukrainian President in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea warned that the Roskomnadzor order will lead to a total loss of anonymity amongst internet users, expand censorship, and increase pressure on pro-Ukrainian residents of occupied territories.[14] Roskomnadzor has made other efforts to consolidate control over the media and information space in occupied Ukraine, for example registering local media outlets in summer 2023.[15]

Russia continues to weaponize the school system in occupied Ukraine to Russify and militarize Ukrainian children and eradicate Ukrainian identity. A recent report by the Crimean “Almenda” Center of Civil Education found that at least 590,900 children are studying in schools in occupied Ukraine that are operating according to “Russian standards.”[16] The report notably found that Russian occupation authorities are using the school system to militarize Ukrainian children via pro-Russian military-patriotic education programs and exposure to Russian military training, consistent with ISW’s long-standing assessment of Russia’s use of school curricula to indoctrinate Ukrainian children.[17] “Almenda” also found that the occupation regime in Crimea formed the “Young Sevastopolians” movement in 2024, which aims to “instill moral and patriotic values” in pre-school to kindergarten-aged children. ISW reported on April 3 on the formation of the “Gryphon” club in occupied Simferopol, Crimea, which seeks to teach children as young as seven basic military intelligence skills and competencies.[18] The continued indoctrination of very young children in occupied Ukraine suggests that Russia seeks to eventually prepare these children for service in the Russian military — a clear violation of international law.


Russian Occupation Update, April 3, 2025

Click here to read the full report, with maps

Author: Karolina Hird

Data cut-off: 11:45 am EST April 2

Key takeaways:

  • The Russian “Helping Ours” Foundation facilitated the deportation of 39 Ukrainian children from occupied Luhansk Oblast to a Russian government-controlled medical facility in Moscow Oblast in late March 2025.
  • Russian military intelligence veterans opened a new military-patriotic education club for Ukrainian youth in occupied Crimea. Ukrainian children will train in accordance with Soviet and Russian special forces and counterintelligence doctrine.
  • Russia is using the court system in occupied Ukraine to pursue illegal charges and fabricated cases against Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians.
  • Russian occupation authorities continue to conduct coerced passportization in occupied Ukraine by requiring Russian citizenship as a prerequisite for obtaining a SIM card.

The Russian “Helping Ours” Foundation facilitated the deportation of 39 Ukrainian children from occupied Luhansk Oblast to a Russian government-controlled medical facility in Moscow Oblast in late March 2025.[1] Russian-controlled Donbas-based media sources reported on March 30 that 39 children from occupied Rubizhne, Kreminna, Lysychansk, and Svatove travelled to the “Klyazma” sanatorium near Moscow for “treatment.”[2] Some portion of the children reportedly travelled with their mothers, although it is unclear how many.[3] Russia’s Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA; notably a Russian federal agency) runs the “Klyazma” sanatorium, which is located just northeast of Moscow.[4] FMBA medical specialists will examine and treat the Ukrainian children to help them “recuperate after difficult life situations.”[5] Russia has reportedly deported over 1,200 Ukrainians, including children, from occupied Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts to the “Klyazma” sanatorium since 2022.[6] ISW previously reported on several instances of cooperation between the “Helping Ours” Foundation and “Klyazma,” suggesting that the two organizations share an institutional-level partnership that facilitates large-scale deportations.[7]

Russia has frequently used the guise of medical or psychological treatment to deport Ukrainian children to Russia, but even the deportation of children for medical reasons is inconsistent with international legal requirements on Russia as an occupying power.[8] Rubizhne, Kreminna, Lysychansk, and Svatove are all within 15 kilometers of the frontline in Ukraine, so Russia is technically legally obligated to facilitate the transfer of children back to territory controlled by Ukraine if they do require immediate medical care. Instead, Russia deported these children over 700 kilometers away from their homes under tenuous circumstances and has provided no clear guarantees for their return to Ukraine.

Russian military intelligence veterans opened a new military-patriotic education club for Ukrainian youth in occupied Crimea.[9] Crimea-based Russian state media outlet Ria Novosti Krym reported on March 23 that Russian military intelligence veterans opened the “Gryphon” military-patriotic club in occupied Simferopol, which will teach children aged seven to 17 “basic military training” and “foster patriotism and respect for military service.”[10] Russian veterans and active military personnel will teach children in accordance with the training doctrine of Russian General Staff’s Main Directorate (GRU) Spetsnaz, the Soviet Committee for State Security (KGB), the Soviet People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), and SMERSH (the Stalinist-era Soviet counterintelligence service).[11]

These Soviet and Russian organizations have a history of employing particularly brutal counterespionage and repression tactics, and the fact that their training methods are being used with Ukrainian children as young as seven speaks to the degree of militarization and indoctrination that the Russian occupation regime hopes to instill in occupied territories. “Gryphon” instructors will likely teach children how to identify and report pro-Ukrainian sentiment in their households and communities to Russian occupation authorities, thereby enabling a culture in which pro-Russian hyper-militarism thrives and propagates. Programs such as “Gryphon,” furthermore, prepare Ukrainian children for service in the Russian military. Russia is using these military-patriotic education clubs and programs to create a pool of mobilizable manpower for future conflicts—a direct violation of Geneva Convention Article 51, which forbids Russia as an occupying power from “compelling protected persons to serve in its armed of auxiliary forces.”[12]

Russia is using the court system in occupied Ukraine to pursue illegal charges and fabricated cases against Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians. The Ukrainian Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR) presented a report on March 31 that analyzed nearly 600 trials in occupied Ukraine and in Russia and found that Russia is systematically violating the right to a fair trial of up to 6,000 Ukrainian citizens.[13] The MIHR report emphasized that Russian authorities often open criminal cases against Ukrainians, particularly in occupied Crimea, for simply holding pro-Ukrainian views or for not complying with the occupation regime.[14] MIHR experts also noted that Russian courts often try Ukrainian POWs under domestic criminal laws, therefore treating them as civilians instead of combatants, despite the fact that international humanitarian law forbids criminal prosecutions against lawful combatants on the sole basis of their participation in combat.[15]

A Russian court sentenced 23 Ukrainian POWs who defended Mariupol in 2022 on terrorist charges to 13 to 23-year sentences in maximum-security penal colonies on March 26.[16] Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets submitted official letters to the United Nations (UN) and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to lodge appeals against these sentences as violations of international humanitarian law, as the Ukrainian POWs, as lawful combatants, should not face criminal trial or terrorist charges under Russian domestic law.[17]

Russian occupation authorities continue to conduct coerced passportization in occupied Ukraine. Kherson Oblast occupation head Vladimir Saldo announced on March 31 a deadline for residents of occupied Kherson Oblast to re-register their SIM (subscriber identity module) cards with Russian passports no later than July 1, 2025.[18] Russian law requires presenting a passport to obtain a SIM card, and the application of this Russian law to occupied territories is likely meant to coerce Ukrainians to receive Russian passports or risk losing the ability to communicate via mobile devices.[19] ISW has reported at length on Russian efforts to passportize occupied Ukraine by tying Russian citizenship to the ability to obtain basic services and necessities.[20]


Russian Occupation Update, March 31, 2025

Click here to read the full report, with maps

Author: Karolina Hird

Reporting period: March 17 - 30

Data cutoff: 10:45am ET, March 30

Key takeaways:

  • Russian occupation authorities have intensified law enforcement activity in occupied areas of Ukraine since mid-March.
  • Putin's March 20 decree, "On the Peculiarities of the Legal Status of Certain Categories of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons in the Russian Federation," likely accounts in part for the intensification of raids in occupied areas.
  • Russia continues efforts to indoctrinate Ukrainian children using civic youth-engagement and military-patriotic education programs.
  • Militarization of Ukrainian children also continues within occupied territories.
  • Russia continues to pursue logistics infrastructure projects in occupied Ukraine in order to maximize economic control over occupied territories.
  • Russian occupation authorities also continue efforts to incentivize Russian citizens to relocate to occupied Ukraine from Russia in a clear violation of international law.

Russian occupation authorities have intensified law enforcement activity in occupied areas of Ukraine since mid-March, likely in part due to Russian President Vladimir Putin's March 20 decree ordering Ukrainians living in occupied areas to obtain Russian citizenship or risk deportation.[1] Sevastopol occupation governor Mikhail Razvozhaev stated on March 29 that Russian law enforcement authorities in occupied Sevastopol conducted "preventative measures to control compliance with migration legislation" and searched 1,500 private homes.[2] Razvozhaev claimed that law enforcement detained six individuals for "violating migration legislation."[3] The Kherson Oblast occupation administration reported on March 20 and March 23 that Russian law enforcement, including local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), Rosgvardia, and Federal Security Service (FSB) units, conducted "preventative measures" to check the citizenship status of residents of occupied Henichesk Raion.[4] Footage and images from the resulting raids show armed Russian personnel inspecting private homes, detaining individuals at gunpoint, and collecting biometric data such as fingerprints.[5] Russian authorities detained at least 82 individuals during these two raids.[6] The Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) MVD additionally conducted a raid in occupied Donske, Donetsk Oblast, on March 25 and inspected 1,500 apartments and 600 private homes in order to check residents' documents.[7]  The DNR MVD reportedly forced residents who still had Ukrainian license plates to re-register their vehicles with Russian authorities immediately and specifically looked for residents who were still holding Ukrainian passports.[8]  The Ukrainian Resistance Center noted on March 21 that Russian law enforcement personnel in occupied Luhansk Oblast have intensified interrogations and document checks at roadside checkpoints in order to identify residents who have pro-Ukrainian views.[9] 

Putin's March 20 decree "On the Peculiarities of the Legal Status of Certain Categories of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons in the Russian Federation" likely accounts in part for the intensification of raids meant to check personal documents in occupied areas. The March 20 decree stipulates that Ukrainian or "foreign" citizens living in occupied areas of Ukraine must either "regulate their legal status" or leave their homes or else risk deportation.[10] This decree is effectively bureaucratic coercion — it forces Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship under the risk of expulsion from their homes and detention and deportation to an unspecified location.[11] This and previous presidential decrees grant Russian authorities the ability to classify Ukrainian citizens living in occupied Ukraine who refuse or have not obtained Russian citizenship as "foreigners," granting the Russian government the ability to execute Russia's harshest deportation and migration laws against them.[12] So-called "migration raids" against Ukrainian citizens living in occupied areas are likely to continue in order to "passportize" (or forcibly grant Russian citizenship) more and more of the occupied population.

Russia continues efforts to indoctrinate Ukrainian children via civic youth-engagement and military-patriotic education programs. Ukrainian teenagers from occupied Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts attended the Fourth Congress of the Russian youth-led civic engagement organization "Movement of the First" in Moscow on March 26 to 28.[13] Putin signed a decree in 2022 creating the "Movement of the First," which brands itself as a civic education program that seeks to instill in youth a "respect for the traditions and culture of the peoples of Russia, historical continuity, and participation in the fate of [Russia]."[14] The "Movement of the First" organization has been operating in occupied Ukraine since its creation and has served as a tool to indoctrinate Ukrainian youth through exposure to pro-Russian sentiments, Kremlin-sanctioned historical and sociocultural narratives, and military-patriotic programming.[15] Russian occupation authorities have incentivized trips and excursions for Ukrainian youth to visit Russia in order to further enforce youth buy-in to the Russian civic and political system.[16]

The militarization of Ukrainian children also continues within occupied territories. Ukrainian outlet Suspilne published an investigation on March 24 detailing how Russia is building a "Voin" (Warrior) training camp at the site of a demolished children's camp in occupied Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast.[17] This will be the fourth such "Voin" military training camp in occupied Ukraine. "Voin" camps are primarily intended to teach Ukrainian children basic military skills, such as small arms fire, tactical first aid, and drone operation, under the supervision of Russian veterans and active military personnel.[18] Beyond instilling hyper-militaristic ideals in Ukrainian children, the "Voin" program also supports various Russian efforts to prepare Ukrainian children for eventual service in the Russian military. Ukrainian Luhansk Oblast Head Artem Lysohor noted on March 25 that upwards of 12,000 children in occupied Luhansk Oblast alone are undergoing military-patriotic indoctrination and military training in programs such as "Voin" and "Yunarmia (Russian Young Army Cadets National Movement)."[19] The Ukrainian Resistance Center similarly reported that Russian occupation authorities in occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhia Oblast, have mandated military training for all 10th and 11th grade students in order to prepare students for the Russian military's "conscription standard."[20] The "Voin" branch in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast will oversee this military training.[21]

Russia continues to pursue logistics infrastructure projects in occupied Ukraine in order to maximize economic control over occupied territories. The Unified Institute of Spatial Planning (EIPP) of the Russian Federation, a subordinate entity of the Russian Ministry of Construction, Housing, and Utilities, published a proposal on March 25 detailing plans to develop a 441-kilometer-long network of railway lines in occupied Kherson Oblast.[22] The EIPP plans note that the goal of the proposed railway construction is to "increase the accessibility and investment attractiveness of coastal tourist and recreational areas and allow the development of industrial clusters and logistics centers."[23]  The EIPP plans also notably include railway schemes for the right (west) bank of Kherson Oblast, which Russia does not occupy — signaling Russia's continued intent to secure additional territorial gains in Ukraine.[24] Ukrainian Mariupol Mayoral Advisor Petro Andryushchenko noted on March 25 that Russian authorities are also constructing three new bridges, including one railway bridge, in occupied Donetsk Oblast in order to improve logistics running from Rostov Oblast along the Novoazovsk-Mariupol-Volnovakha-Donetsk City route.[25]
Such logistics infrastructure projects will augment Russian military logistics capabilities in occupied Ukraine, allow Russia to continue to extract economic benefit from the occupied territories, and further integrate occupied Ukraine into the Russian economic sphere.[26]

Russian occupation authorities also continue efforts to incentivize Russian citizens to relocate to occupied Ukraine from Russia in a clear violation of international law. Andryushchenko posted footage on March 25 of a building site in occupied Mariupol and noted that Russian authorities are dismantling existing high-rise apartments and rebuilding large apartment complexes intended for Russian citizens to relocate to from Russia.[27] Russian occupation authorities are likely offering preferential mortgages to Russians who move to occupied Mariupol to permanently change the demographics of occupied Mariupol, as ISW has previously reported.[28]

These construction projects permanently displaced the Ukrainians who previously lived in these areas. Ukrainian outlet ArmyInform reported on March 27 that up to 18,000 Ukrainian residents of occupied Mariupol currently lack adequate housing and have to shelter either in destroyed building complexes, on the street, or in temporary shelters (which the Russian occupation regime likely runs).[29] Andryushchenko noted that recent Russian reconstruction efforts in Mariupol have dismantled buildings where up to 20,000 people previously lived.[30] International humanitarian law requires Russia, as an occupying power, to refrain from destroying real estate or private property—a rule which Russia appears to be consistently violating by destroying housing in Mariupol and other occupied cities.[31] International humanitarian law also clearly forbids Russia from transferring its own civilian population to territories it occupies.[32] ISW has long assessed that Russia has been engaging in a deliberate campaign to repopulate occupied Ukraine with Russian citizens in order to forcibly integrate Ukraine further into the Russian Federation and weaken Ukraine's rights to its own territories and people by manipulating the demographics of occupied territories.[33] 

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Ukraine Project