Russian occupation

As the war grinds on, Ukraine struggles with the punishment of collaborators in occupied territories. Some are plainly considered as traitors who actively helped the Russian enemy. Others just continued earning their bread.Jurists, parliamentarians and human rights activists hotly debate the law on collaboration.

In the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia agricultural holding companies, factories, and mining plants are being taken over by Russians. Novaya Gazeta-Europe has found over a thousand companies in Melitopol, Berdiansk, Mariupol, Lysychansk, and Sievierodonetsk that are now registered as Russian entities. Here is our insight into how Russian businessmen, with the help of the military, use pillage, racketeering and theft in order to seize valuable assets.

The Kremlin’s decision to hold referendums in the Russian-occupied part of the Ukrainian Donbas on their attachment to Russia and partially mobilise Russian reservists indicate that Putin is playing va banque. He hopes to deter Kyiv from reconquering the occupied territory. In reality these decisions will lead to more Ukrainian attacks and carry political risks for Putin’s regime.

From the start, there were already indications that Russia was trying to eradicate the Ukrainian culture in the occupied territories. After the liberation of several regions in September, evidence is mounting that this plan for culturicide was systematically implemented by the Russian occupying forces.