Lyudmila Zhernovska23:35, 11/10/24

People in the occupied territories live in fear.

Donald Trump’s administration may advocate a truce or the signing of a peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv. This will leave a fifth of Ukraine under occupation.

The Economist  writes that Washington needs to understand exactly how Kremlin ruler Putin sees life in the occupied territories. One of the members of the Ukrainian resistance told journalists that Russia has created a “prison society” there – people are afraid, so they are forced to hide their views from others:

“Being without a Russian passport today is the same as being a refugee in one’s own land. Almost all important positions are held by Russians. Anyone with pro-Ukrainian views is afraid that they will be sent “to the basement.”

The occupiers converted all schools to the Russian curriculum, opened their youth and paramilitary organizations, and forced people to accept Russian citizenship. Without a Russian passport, they will not be able to send their children to school, receive medical and social assistance, and maintain control over their own property and business. Because of this, some people return to the occupied territories.

The author of a new report for the German Institute of International Relations and Security, Mykola Petrov, says that repression and Russification are designed to transform the social and political structure of the occupied territories.

According to Kyiv, at the beginning of 2022, 6.4 million people lived in the occupied territories of Donbas. Now there are 3.5 million of them left, says Petrov. Because of this, the occupiers had an acute labor shortage, they sent about 40-50 thousand workers from Russia and Central Asia there. 

(c)UNIAN 2024