This audio is created with AI assistance
Prior, the simplified procedure was used to hand out Russian passports in Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Russia has distributed almost a million passports in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts since 2019. Forcing Russian citizenship on Ukrainian citizens was later used by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin as a justification to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Most popular
Editors' Picks
Charles Michel: 'I don't think this counteroffensive has failed'

How Ukrainian identity evolved since the Revolution of Dignity

Historian Serhii Plokhy: ‘The better we prepare for the long war, the sooner it will end’
