Millions of Ukrainians face Russian army conscription

Russia has issued millions of passports to Ukrainians living in illegally Russian-occupied territory, leaving them at risk of conscription into its army, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.

- ALEX CROFT

Around 3.5 million Russian passports have been issued to Ukrainians, Moscow’s interior minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said. This means around 700,000 have been issued since March 2024, when 2.8 million had been handed out.

Holding a Russian passport in the occupied territories has been made necessary for Ukrainians who want to access healthcare, retirement income, social services, or prove property ownership. A Russian law stipulated that anyone in the occupied territories who did not have a Russian passport by 1 July 2024 was subject to imprisonment as a “foreign citizen”.

The eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson are all partially under Russian control, with Putin’s forces having controlled much of south and east Ukraine since its invasion in February 2022. Millions of Ukrainians live under Russian control.

Incentives are also offered as part of the passport, including a stipend to leave the occupied territory and move to Russia, pensions for retirees, humanitarian aid, and money for new parents who have children with Russian birth certificates.