Russian forces in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast withhold insulin to residents who refuse Russian passports

Russian forces are denying Ukrainian residents under occupation in Zaporizhzhia Oblast access to insulin if they do not obtain Russian passports, the Ukrainian military's National Resistance Center reported on June 3.

Withholding medical services is being used as a coercion tactic to force residents in Russian-occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast to become Russian passport holders, according to the center.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on May 30 said that 1.5 million Ukrainians in occupied territory had been issued Russian passports over the past nine months. Ukrainians who refuse to obtain Russian passports are often threatened with deportation or with being forcibly mobilized into the Russian military.

Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's Ombudsman, stated on May 20 that Ukrainian residents forced to obtain Russian citizenship to survive occupation would not be punished by Ukrainian authorities after the war.

Russia has occupied parts of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. The regional capital cities of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, liberated by Ukrainian troops in November, remain under Ukrainian control.  

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The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell