Masked by the missiles and bullets that pierce through the air of the Zaporizka, Khersonska, Donetsk, Donbas, and Luhansk regions of Ukraine is a more covert campaign being carried out by Russia on the ground. On March 20th, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree requiring Ukrainians in those regions to either “regulate their legal status” or leave. In other words, Ukrainians must obtain a Russian passport or risk detention.
Since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russia’s plethora of such decrees as part of its plan to “Russify” its neighbor has led to 2.2 million Russian passports being issued in Ukraine. Those who refuse are threatened with loss of rights, fines, or even deportation. The series of Russian decrees effectively reduces Ukrainians who refuse to follow them to non-citizens under occupation law, removing their fundamental rights. In response to Russia’s March decree, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was quick to link this campaign to the genocidal policies of the Holodomor in the 1930s.
Forced Deportations and International Responses
After the devastating destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in 2023, Russian authorities in the region only allowed registered Russians to evacuate the flood zones. Today, such evacuations are welcomed—against the will of the Ukrainians. In April, leaked Kremlin reports revealed a prospective Russian plan to relocate 5 million Ukrainians to Russian-occupied territories to boost population growth therein. Under the façade of forthcoming economic boosts and relocations, what truly amounts to a Russian forced deportation campaign is far from over.
Ukrainians across such territories have reported of routine inspections by the Russian occupation authorities, detaining those without Russian passports with the threat of deportation. Increasingly, children are the target.
The seizure of Ukrainian children remains the most criticized and internationally condemned aspect of Russia’s occupation campaign. The United Nations’ (UN) children’s rights committees have discovered that over 20,000 children have been transferred since 2022. The Ukrainian authorities confirmed the number in April, and stressed that it is likely far higher.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and other high-ranking officials on charges of “unlawfully” deporting Ukrainian children. The Court’s Ukraine division continues to maintain its collection of victim testimonies and satellite evidence granted by Ukraine’s ratification of the ICC Statute. Ukraine and its allies urge the group to treat such evidence of forced deportation as proof of genocidal intent on behalf of Russia.
Advancing Russia’s War Efforts and Governance Strategies
By deporting or “Russifying” civilian populations, the Russian authorities gradually attain complete control over occupied territory, which they will then use to justify annexation thereof. Putin’s March decree ensures that the only population remaining in the selected occupied territories are those with Russian passports, the first step in his plan.
Russian state media portrays such evacuations through the lens of humanitarianism and patriotism. The Russian war effort is bolstered with limited internal resistance by propagandizing the issue. Deported Ukrainians cannot share their stories to aid resistance and are constantly surveilled. Instead, the Russian government is allowed to maintain a façade of their protection of children to consolidate authoritarian control over Ukrainians.
Internationally, this behind-the-scenes Russian campaign has not gone unnoticed. In fact, these Russian operations are undermining international peace efforts. Assessing the human rights abuses present in these cases, Ukraine has made the unconditional return of deportees a redline, insisting that no agreements can be made legitimately as the deportations of children and adults alike continue.
An End to Ethnic Manipulation
Any eventual war resolution will force the Kremlin to confront or justify this ethnic engineering by the Russians in Ukraine. Despite global condemnation, their efforts have only intensified in recent months. Beneath the buzzing bullets, they contribute heavily to Russia’s war efforts: centralizing the population and reshaping the demographics in occupied territories. As occupation hardens and the threat of annexation forever looms over the Ukrainian people, this Russian deportation campaign must come to an end. And with it, as well, an end to the war itself.