UKRAINE: THE SITUATION 429 - APRIL 26, 2023

Russia appears to be continuing a targeted depopulation campaign in the occupied areas of Ukraine in order to facilitate the resettlement of Russian populations in Ukrainian territories.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar stated on April 26 that Russia is attempting to change the ethnic composition of Ukraine by actively carrying out a large-scale relocation of people, mainly from poorer and more remote regions of Russia, to Ukraine. Malyar highlights that the most intense efforts are taking place in the occupied territory of Luhansk, noting that Russia is also deporting Ukrainians and forcibly resettling them in Russia.

The ISW has previously reported on specific cases where Russian authorities oversaw depopulation and resettlement of areas in occupied Ukraine, especially in the occupied territory of Kherson, throughout 2022. Ukrainian sources reported in October 2022 that Russian authorities in the then-occupied parts of Kherson Oblast deported large groups of Ukrainian residents under the guise of humanitarian evacuations to Russia and then resettled their homes with Russian soldiers. Russia may be hoping to import Russians into the depopulated areas of Ukraine in order to further integrate the occupied territories socially, administratively, politically, and economically into Russia, making the conditions for the reintegration of these areas into Ukraine more difficult. The ISW has previously noted that such depopulation and resettlement campaigns may amount to deliberate ethnic cleansing and could constitute an obvious violation of the Geneva Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The full Russian Offensive Update 429 is available directly from UNDERSTANDING WAR.

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