What is happening in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine?

Ukraine’s territorial integrity has been violated since the beginning of Russia’s armed aggression in 2014. Today’s map of Ukraine includes three types of occupied territories that suffer from Russian aggression.

1. Territories occupied until February 24 and today

Russia occupied the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions in 2014. The Russian occupation administration was established there under the leadership of Russia-backed proxies. Russia has turned once prosperous Ukrainian territories in Crimea and Donbas into places cut from the outside world, where fundamental human rights are brutally abused and Ukrainian people are deprived of choice and opportunity to live a normal life and build their own future. 

2. Territories that were under Russian occupation after February 24 and liberated by the Ukrainian military

Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel, which are now familiar to the whole world, and other cities and villages in Kyiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions, some parts of the Kharkiv and Kherson regions have been under Russian occupation for more than a month. Liberation of these territories by the Ukrainian army revealed the scale of Russia’s war crimes. The Bucha massacre proves that Russian hatred towards Ukrainians is beyond anything Europe has seen since World War II. Law enforcement agencies and international experts work together to investigate these crimes and bring those responsible to justice.

3. Currently occupied territories where Russians establish their authorities after February 24

The situation in the temporarily occupied territories is severe. Ukrainian people are deprived of basic services such as normal food supplies, social and medical care. They are cut from Ukrainian information space, their fundamental rights are brutally violated. Russian invaders try to suppress the resistance, kidnapping local leaders and intimidating residents of temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. About 500,000 Ukrainian citizens were deported to the northern and eastern regions of Russia without the right to return home. Russia is issuing Russian passports in the occupied territories, preparing the ground for illegal annexation.