National Resistance Center: Russia threatens Ukrainians who don't take passports with deportation

Russian occupation authorities in a village of Kherson Oblast forced residents to take Russian passports, threatening them with deportation to Russia, the National Resistance Center reported on July 20.

"On the left-bank side of Kherson Oblast, the occupation police conducted a raid on residents of the village Hornostaivka," the Center informed.

"Russians took all their fingerprints and forced them to write an application to obtain an enemy passport, saying that otherwise they will be deported to the Russian Federation."

Russian forces took much of Kherson Oblast in the early days of the full-scale war. While Ukrainian troops liberated the capital Kherson and all territory on the western bank of the Dnipro River, Moscow continues to hold the eastern bank.

Russia is coercing residents of the occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk oblasts to accept Russian passports as part of the efforts to integrate occupied territories and the local population.

Russia is reportedly withholding medical assistance and threatening mobilization to those who refuse to accept the Russian documents.

During the massive flooding of the Kherson Oblast following the breach of the Kakhovka dam, Russia allowed evacuations only to Russian passport holders, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported.

Under Putin's executive order, anyone living in the occupied territories who refuses to accept Russian citizenship will be considered a foreigner and could face deportation starting on July 1, 2024.

Ukrainians under occupation face deportation, loss of property after Putin’s new order

Editor’s Note: The names of the people from the Russian-occupied territories interviewed by the Kyiv Independent for this story have been changed to protect their identity, as they have shared sensitive information that could place them in danger. As Russia largely exhausted its military potential…

The Kyiv IndependentAlexander Khrebet