Moscow has already built a 40-kilometer-long segment between the Russian city of Taganrog and occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Their statements during this visit about opposing colonialism, made on Ukrainian land illegally seized by Russia in the course of its neocolonial war of aggression against Ukraine, are completely absurd," the Foreign Ministry said.
A Russian-controlled court in occupied Donetsk Oblast sentenced 20-year-old Mikhail Karimov, a resident of Mariupol, to 11 years in a strict regime penal colony, Mariupol City Council reported on Dec. 12.
Russian occupation authorities in the Donetsk Oblast city of Yenakiieve announced evacuations from parts of the city on Dec. 10 amid reports of explosions.
Since February 2022, at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied territories and sent to other Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine or to Russia itself.
Yevhenii Matvieiev, the mayor of the occupied Dniprorudne town, was tortured to death in Russian captivity, Zaporizhzhia Oblast Governor Ivan Fedorov said on his Telegram channel on Dec. 4.
The study showed that Russian Aerospace Forces and military aircraft transported multiple groups of children in 2022 under Putin's orders.
"Our army lacks the strength to do that. That is true," President Volodymyr Zelensky told Kyodo News regarding the liberation of territories held by Russia since 2014, including Crimea.
Leonid Popov, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia since 2017, was charged with espionage by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the Russian independent outlet IStories reported on Nov. 29.
"I spoke incorrectly, so I'm taking back my words," said lawmaker Maksym Tkachenko who serves on a committee focused on human rights and the liberation of occupied territories.
Inadequate support from the state is part of what prompts people to return to Russian-occupied areas, lawmaker Maksym Tkachenko said.
"We cannot spend dozens of thousands of our people so that they perish for the sake of Crimea coming back ... We understand that Crimea can be brought back diplomatically," Zelensky told Fox News.
Under the alleged plan, Ukraine's western lands could be claimed by neighboring countries, while its eastern regions would be annexed by Russia and the remaining territory converted into a Russian-controlled puppet state.
According to the report, the officer, the commander of a unit in Special Operations Forces, had been transmitting critical military intelligence to Russian troops.
Anton Sopov, 21, and Stanislav Rau, 28 were convicted of killing a family of nine, including two children, in occupied Donetsk Oblast. The case marks a rare instance of Russian authorities holding its own troops accountable for war crimes perpetrated in Ukraine.
Russian General Pavel Klimenko, 47, led Russia's 5th Donetsk Motorized Rifle Brigade. Members of this brigade were accused of torturing pro-Kremlin U.S. blogger Russell Bentley to death in April 2024.
Russia has captured 1,146 square kilometers (442 square miles) in Ukraine since Aug. 6, about a quarter more than in the first seven months of the year, Bloomberg reported.
The Russian banking giant offers interest rates as low as 2%, according to Interfax, and plans to expand its offer to Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts as soon as "housing constructions" start there.
"Since morning, locals have been sharing the sights of ammunition detonation," Governor Artem Lysohor said, sharing footage recorded by civilians and bystanders on his Telegram channel.
Key developments on Oct. 28: * Russia strikes downtown Kharkiv with FAB-500 bomb, damages key landmark * US won't impose new restrictions on Ukraine's use of American weapons if North Korea joins war, Pentagon says * 650,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in war against Ukraine, Zelensky says * Trump plans
The following opinion piece accompanies the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit's newly released documentary, "Shadows Across the River." Watch the documentary by clicking here. “Let Russia retain control over occupied Ukrainian territories to finally freeze this war!” This refrain, repeated in media and political discourse worldwide, has become a
Starting in 2025, Ukrainians with diabetes, bronchial asthma, and other illnesses in Russian-occupied territories will lose access to free medications unless they acquire Russian passports, according to the Eastern Human Rights Group.
The government is now holding "serious discussions" about relinquishing its aim of full territorial restoration, an unnamed official told Der Spiegel.
From Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, men aged 18 to 30 living in occupied Kherson Oblast will be subject to conscription into the Russian military for a period of 12 months.
According to the Crimean Wind Telegram channel, plastic and metal barrels connected by metal frames were spotted littering the beach in Kerch on the occupied peninsula.
The Russian company Donskoy Ugol Trading House is planning to start exporting coal from the occupied Donbas region through the port of Mariupol, the Russian state-controlled media outlet RBC reported on Sept. 30.
The Russian president insisted things are going according to plan, two years after annexing southeastern parts of Ukraine that his army still does not fully control.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Sept. 24 reiterated that the full withdrawal of Russian troops from all occupied territories is necessary for a "just and lasting peace," after the president of Czechia said Kyiv should be "realistic" about achieving such a goal. In an interview with The New York Times (NYT)
"To talk about a defeat of Ukraine or defeat of Russia, it will simply not happen. So the end will be somewhere in between," Czech President Petr Pavel told The New York Times.
The Nature Reserve Askania-Nova in Kherson Oblast suffered heavily under Russian occupation but has not been fully destroyed as of now, the reserve's director, Viktor Shapoval, said in a comment for Suspilne on Aug. 19
Russia systematically coerces residents of the occupied territories to accept Russian passports, the U.S. research group Ukraine Conflict Observatory reported last year.
"From a military perspective, it is much easier to retake Crimea than Donbas, which has a front longer than 1,000 kilometers and deeper than 200 kilometers," Kyrylo Budanov said during a speech at the Kyiv School of Economics.
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