Earlier last week, local authorities in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied areas pressured residents to submit to Russian rule. Next, fake elections will be held to formally establish Vladimir V. Putin’s claim that these areas are Russian territory.
The Kremlin has handed out Russian passports, phone numbers, and set-top boxes for watching Russian television. The ruble has been used in place of Ukrainian currency, Russian servers are now used to access the internet, and hundreds of people who have resisted assimilation have been detained.
The occupying authorities on territory seized by Moscow’s forces are using indoctrination and fear to force Ukrainians to adopt a Russian way of life in large and small ways. Blue, white, and red billboards proclaim, “We are one people. We support Russia.”
The popular “referendum” is now the next act in President Vladimir V. Putin’s 21st-century rendition of a war of conquest. A vote that the Kremlin will present as a popular demand in the region to become part of Russia could take place as early as September thanks to Russian administrators in towns, villages, and cities like Kherson in southern Ukraine. They are allegedly already printing the ballots while also appointing pro-Russian locals to new “election commissions” and urging Ukrainian citizens to immigrate to their nation.
A successful annexation would be Europe’s biggest territorial expansion by force since World War II, affecting an area several times larger than Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Mr. Putin took over in 2014. The likelihood of a second annexation has also impacted military planning, pressuring Kyiv to launch a risky counteroffensive sooner rather than waiting for more long-range Western weapons to arrive, which would increase the likelihood of success.
Mr. Konstantinov, a longtime pro-Russia politician in Crimea, sat next to Mr. Putin at the Kremlin when Putin signed the document annexing the peninsula to Russia. Additionally, he was involved in the planning of the Crimean “referendum,” the results of which were widely denounced as a fraud by the international community.
Mr. Konstantinov is now in regular contact with the occupying authorities imposed by Russia in the neighboring Kherson region, which Russian troops captured early in the conflict. He claimed that a few days prior, the authorities had informed him that they had begun printing ballots in preparation for a September election.
Ukrainian civilians have experienced numerous hardships, such as a lack of money and medicine, as a result of the occupation; the Russians try to take advantage of this situation by providing “humanitarian aid” in an effort to win local support.
Russian occupiers also cut off Ukrainian cellular service, and also restricted access to YouTube and the popular messaging app Viber. They established the ruble and began converting the educational program to Russian, which aims to indoctrinate kids with Mr. Putin’s worldview.
Ihor Kolykhaiev, the mayor of Kherson since 2020, stated in an interview late last month that Russian propaganda and the sense of abandonment by the government in Kyiv were slowly changing the perceptions of some residents who had remained, primarily pensioners and people with low incomes.
In a video interview from a temporary office in Kherson, Mr. Kolykhaiev spoke. Days later, his assistant made the announcement that he had been abducted by occupying forces loyal to Russia. He had not been heard from as of Friday.
Mr. Putin has referred to Kherson and other southeast Ukrainian cities as Novorossiya, or New Russia, the name given to the area after Catherine the Great annexed it to the Russian Empire in the 18th century. Even as the region developed a new Ukrainian identity in recent years, older generations in the area still harbored nostalgia for the Soviet past and skepticism toward the pro-Western government in Kyiv.
However, Kherson residents repeatedly gathered for large, loud protests early in the occupation this spring to oppose Russian troops, even if they evoked gunfire in response. According to 30-year-old Ivan, a lifelong resident of Kherson who requested anonymity due to the dangers of speaking out in public, this open confrontation has largely come to an end.
“As soon as there is a large gathering of people, soldiers appear immediately,” he said by phone. “It’s really life-threatening at this point.” Still signs of resistance are evident, residents said. “Our people go out at night and paint Ukrainian flags,” said another man, Andrei. “In yellow and blue letters they paint, ‘We believe in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
The Kremlin has handed out Russian passports, phone numbers, and set-top boxes for watching Russian television. The ruble has been used in place of Ukrainian currency, Russian servers are now used to access the internet, and hundreds of people who have resisted assimilation have been detained.
The occupying authorities on territory seized by Moscow’s forces are using indoctrination and fear to force Ukrainians to adopt a Russian way of life in large and small ways. Blue, white, and red billboards proclaim, “We are one people. We support Russia.”
The popular “referendum” is now the next act in President Vladimir V. Putin’s 21st-century rendition of a war of conquest. A vote that the Kremlin will present as a popular demand in the region to become part of Russia could take place as early as September thanks to Russian administrators in towns, villages, and cities like Kherson in southern Ukraine. They are allegedly already printing the ballots while also appointing pro-Russian locals to new “election commissions” and urging Ukrainian citizens to immigrate to their nation.
A successful annexation would be Europe’s biggest territorial expansion by force since World War II, affecting an area several times larger than Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Mr. Putin took over in 2014. The likelihood of a second annexation has also impacted military planning, pressuring Kyiv to launch a risky counteroffensive sooner rather than waiting for more long-range Western weapons to arrive, which would increase the likelihood of success.
Mr. Konstantinov, a longtime pro-Russia politician in Crimea, sat next to Mr. Putin at the Kremlin when Putin signed the document annexing the peninsula to Russia. Additionally, he was involved in the planning of the Crimean “referendum,” the results of which were widely denounced as a fraud by the international community.
Mr. Konstantinov is now in regular contact with the occupying authorities imposed by Russia in the neighboring Kherson region, which Russian troops captured early in the conflict. He claimed that a few days prior, the authorities had informed him that they had begun printing ballots in preparation for a September election.
Ukrainian civilians have experienced numerous hardships, such as a lack of money and medicine, as a result of the occupation; the Russians try to take advantage of this situation by providing “humanitarian aid” in an effort to win local support.
Russian occupiers also cut off Ukrainian cellular service, and also restricted access to YouTube and the popular messaging app Viber. They established the ruble and began converting the educational program to Russian, which aims to indoctrinate kids with Mr. Putin’s worldview.
Ihor Kolykhaiev, the mayor of Kherson since 2020, stated in an interview late last month that Russian propaganda and the sense of abandonment by the government in Kyiv were slowly changing the perceptions of some residents who had remained, primarily pensioners and people with low incomes.
In a video interview from a temporary office in Kherson, Mr. Kolykhaiev spoke. Days later, his assistant made the announcement that he had been abducted by occupying forces loyal to Russia. He had not been heard from as of Friday.
Mr. Putin has referred to Kherson and other southeast Ukrainian cities as Novorossiya, or New Russia, the name given to the area after Catherine the Great annexed it to the Russian Empire in the 18th century. Even as the region developed a new Ukrainian identity in recent years, older generations in the area still harbored nostalgia for the Soviet past and skepticism toward the pro-Western government in Kyiv.
However, Kherson residents repeatedly gathered for large, loud protests early in the occupation this spring to oppose Russian troops, even if they evoked gunfire in response. According to 30-year-old Ivan, a lifelong resident of Kherson who requested anonymity due to the dangers of speaking out in public, this open confrontation has largely come to an end.
“As soon as there is a large gathering of people, soldiers appear immediately,” he said by phone. “It’s really life-threatening at this point.” Still signs of resistance are evident, residents said. “Our people go out at night and paint Ukrainian flags,” said another man, Andrei. “In yellow and blue letters they paint, ‘We believe in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
