Passports & Rubles Compelled on Occupied Ukrainians

Overview

In the course of the week of December 11 – December 18, Russian troopers didn’t make important positive aspects regardless of continued assaults on Ukrainian settlements, which broken crucial infrastructure and injured and killed civilians and members of Ukraine’s protection forces.

Whereas the Russians concentrated their offensive actions on the Bakhmut and Avdiivka fronts and tried to regain misplaced positions on the Lyman entrance, Ukrainian troopers carried out strikes on concentrations of occupying forces and their gear close to Melitopol and different settlements in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Russian forces proceed strengthening their traces of protection between Kherson Oblast and Crimea and enhancing the safety of the North Crimean Canal. New fortifications and so-called “dragon’s enamel” (concrete anti-tank fortifications) had been seen not solely within the north and western a part of Crimea, but in addition in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, and Melitopol. New posters with commercials to hitch Wagner group have appeared in occupied Simferopol and Yevpatoriia, Crimea, whereas resistance continues on the peninsula and in occupied areas of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. New FSB teams have arrived within the occupied south to seek for members of the Ukrainian underground.

All through the quickly occupied territories, Russian forces have strengthened “filtration” measures on checkpoints and activated pressured mobilization in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. To replenish losses and re-staff items, 28 girls had been drafted by the District Army Commissariat in Donetsk and despatched for coaching. As well as, there are rising studies of pressured “passportization,” and makes an attempt to switch transactions to Russian rubles, amid abductions and hostage-taking in occupied areas. In line with Ukrainian authorities estimates, the nation wants US$1 billion for the speedy restoration of electrical energy and heating to get by means of the winter.

Regardless of the fixed shelling, Ukrainian cities are making ready to usher in 2023. In Mykolaiv, the primary Christmas tree, embellished in a army fashion, covers an area monument, whereas in Kharkiv native authorities determined to put in it within the metro.

Crimea

Russian forces proceed to work on the defensive position between Kherson Oblast and Crimea, whereas intensifying safety of the North Crimean Canal. Further items of conscripts from Krasnodar Krai had been deployed there for this function, the Normal Workers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on December 16. Specifically, within the settlements of Mizhvodne and Chornomorske (north-west of the peninsula), the Russian occupation authorities have intensified their administrative, police, and counter-intelligence measures.

The occupiers are additionally working to strengthen the shoreline of the peninsula to stop the touchdown of Ukrainian troops. Mine obstacles and trenches have lately been put in alongside the coast close to the village of Molochne (Saky district, west of the peninsula). “The so-called ‘dragon’s enamel’ are put in – rows of concrete pyramids, that are presupposed to cease the advance of heavy gear,” the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Protection of Ukraine reported on December 15.

“Dragon’s enamel” had been additionally seen alongside the street from Dzhankoi to Krasnoperekopsk, within the north of the peninsula, Telegram channel Crimean Wind reported. It additionally printed photos of fortifications on the west coast of Crimea.

The identical channel famous that the Russian authorities in Saky have put up indicators concerning the location of shelters. This started in the summertime, after a sequence of explosions on the peninsula led occupation authorities to examine bomb shelters. Memos about what to do in case of shelling had been additionally seen in Kerch in November.

Wagner Group recruitment posters have been seen in Simferopol, and in public transport stations in Yevpatoriia. They embody an e-mail, telephone quantity and a name “to change into a part of the Wagner combating brotherhood”.

The Ukrainian resistance continues within the occupied peninsula. The ATESH resistance motion, which operates in Crimea, claimed accountability for setting hearth to a Russian army base in Sovietskyi. “Our brokers labored like clockwork. We’ve been engaged on this “challenge” for a very long time and naturally we succeeded,” the group stated.

On December 10, it was reported {that a} hearth broke out within the barracks and two individuals died consequently. All of the servicemen had been moved to a different constructing. The Professional-Russian Telegram channel Krymskii stated it occurred on account of the careless dealing with of fireside.

As a result of overcrowding in hospitals and morgues in quickly occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russian forces have been transporting injured and lifeless army personnel to Crimea.

“In Simferopol and different cities, native residents are denied sure types of therapy an increasing number of usually,” stated Refat Chubarov, chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar individuals. “This means that civilian medical doctors are busy treating the wounded [soldiers].”

Individuals in occupied Crimea proceed to be prosecuted for political causes, together with membership of organizations banned within the quickly occupied territories or Russia. They’ve additionally been sentenced on costs of “desecrating the grave web site” of a Russian military serviceman from Crimea, or for anti-war leaflets, in line with the authorized affairs newspaper Graty.

“Since February 24, 2022, Russian and occupation courts have sentenced 45 victims of politically motivated persecution in occupied Crimea,” stated Yevhenii Yaroshenko, an analyst for KrymSOS, a Crimean non-profit group.

Occupying forces have additionally continued to switch illegally convicted Ukrainians to distant oblasts in Russia. Attorneys name this “pressured abduction”. They’ve been despatched to Dagestan, Mordovia, Tambov and Kostroma oblasts, Graty stated.

Unlawful militarization of youngsters continues in faculties in Crimea: “hero desks” appeared with the names and biographies of natives of the peninsula who fought in opposition to Ukraine and had been killed. In line with one Crimean human rights group, “the whole system of faculty training, beginning with the curriculum, in a single kind or one other promotes service within the Russian military and ‘values of the Russian world’, which deprives youngsters of the chance to specific their Ukrainian identification or freely select their identification.”

Compelled passportization has additionally been noticed on the peninsula. Till July 2022, there have been nearly no purposes for Russian citizenship in Crimea, however the scenario modified considerably after Putin signed a decree simplifying the registration of citizenship for all Ukrainians, the Russian outlet MediaZona reported. By the top of October, there have been nearly 130,000 purposes for Russian passports on the peninsula.

Natalya, a volunteer who helps Ukrainian refugees from mainland, informed journalists that many individuals had been taken to Crimea from Kherson and Kherson Oblast and given no selection however to modify to Russian citizenship.

“Usually they’re denied any medical and social help with out [Russian] passports,” Natalya stated. “For instance, a household with a small baby was moved to Crimea, the kid fell unwell – so as to obtain medical take care of the kid, one should acquire a Russian passport. A girl with most cancers informed me the identical factor.”

Donetsk Oblast

Battles on the Bakhmut entrance proceed. The Ukrainian military is defending the town so as to decelerate the Russian advance and cut back their fight functionality. For the Russians, taking it might not solely be a PR enhance for Wagner Group and the Kremlin. It might additionally permit the deployment of about two divisions of its military within the metropolis in sub-zero temperatures, as a substitute of protecting them within the fields.

“A captured Wagnerite informed us: you killed 50 individuals at the moment, 50 extra had been introduced to switch them by the night. If you happen to killed 100, they’d convey 100 extra. They attempt to preserve precisely 900 individuals within the assault unit. They’re informed: “Manpower just isn’t an issue”,” Petro Kuzyk, commander of the Svoboda battalion of the Nationwide Guard, stated in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.

As of December 15, 10,500 individuals remained in Bakhmut hromada (municipality), down about one third from the start of fall. Ninety p.c of these persons are residents of Bakhmut. Regardless of the fixed assaults, outlets, one pharmacy and a automobile store are nonetheless open within the metropolis. Rescue staff are serving to with the injured, as a result of solely one of many metropolis’s 10 ambulances is purposeful, the press service of the Bakhmut Metropolis Council knowledgeable Suspilne.

Russian forces have stepped up pressured mobilization in Donetsk Oblast. In Horlivka, all males are topic to conscription, together with these with a “reservation” mark of their army ID, the Normal Workers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on December 13. There have been additionally 28 girls drafted by the Kalinin District Army Commissariat in Donetsk and despatched for coaching to re-staff items of the first Army Corps.

The Russian military is shifting army gear to Berdiansk-Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, from and thru Mariupol. In line with Petro Andriushchenko, advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, armored automobiles, howitzers, artillery, and army vans with gun trailers are being delivered to the oblast. On the identical time, “dragon enamel” had been taken to Mariupol from Russia and occupied Crimea. Manhush (a metropolis simply 19 km/11 miles from Mariupol) has been strengthened with a Buk-type air protection system, and a speedy enhance in Russian forces and troopers from the self-proclaimed Donetsk Individuals’s Republic has been noticed.

Riot police items (OMON) from St. Petersburg have additionally arrived in Mariupol and began patrolling the streets on December 16.

Occupying forces are persevering with their destruction of the middle of Mariupol. In line with the metropolis council, there are plans to utterly demolish a block close to the Azovstal plant within the Left Financial institution district of the town. “The occupiers proceed their efforts to break Mariupol. Condominium buildings, which the Russians purposefully bombed throughout the siege, are frequently destroyed,” the council stated in a put up on Telegram.

Russian forces are looting and transporting Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories to Russia. There was a queue of vans greater than 15 kilometers lengthy on the border between Ukraine and Russia within the Novoazovsk district, Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, reported on Telegram. The overwhelming majority of them had been carrying grain. Grain is transported in tented vans from the whole occupied a part of Donetsk Oblast.

The occupation authorities in Mariupol wish to arrange a Christmas tree within the metropolis and take youngsters for “a particular cultural program and excursions to New 12 months’s in St. Petersburg”. The Mariupol metropolis council replied that the set up of a Christmas tree is but “one other cynicism and a dance on the bones of hundreds of peaceable Mariupol residents who died by the hands of the Russians.”

Kharkiv Oblast

Kharkiv and the encircling space proceed to return beneath assault. The Russian military carried out a minimum of three airstrikes on Kharkiv and the area on December 16, damaging crucial infrastructure and inflicting energy outages.

Final week, the Safety Service of Ukraine revealed the names of six Russian generals who ordered troops to “breakthrough” Ukraine’s state border in Kharkiv Oblast and seize settlements. Investigators, in cooperation with the Nationwide Police, have collected proof of the culpability of Russian commanders in crimes in opposition to Ukrainian nationwide safety and the Safety Service is endeavor additional measures to convey the occupiers to justice.

After the liberation of Kharkiv Oblast from Russian troopers, regulation enforcement authorities continued to contact residents suspected of collaborating with Russian forces. Final week, one 48-year-old resident, who was appointed “director” of a college in August, acquired such a be aware. He had ordered subordinates to destroy all Ukrainian symbols and implement academic plans in line with the Russian program. Prosecutors proceed to search out Russian textbooks in faculties and lyceums on territory liberated from the Russian military. For instance, regulation enforcement authorities seized 300 textbooks in Chuhuiv area. In November, greater than 5,000 Russian textbooks and certificates had been present in a Lyceum in Kupiansk, one other metropolis liberated from the Russian military.

In the meantime, Kharkiv cultural activists signed an open letter to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during which they requested for help in renaming the Kharkiv Tutorial Russian Drama Theater, which is at present named after Pushkin. They wish to take away the title of the Russian poet and point out of the aggressor state from its title.

Such a transfer “just isn’t a strategy of distorting our historical past and erasing our reminiscence. Moderately, that is our victory within the battle of cultures – the de-occupation of our cultural house and consciousness,” the activists wrote within the letter. Regardless of fixed assaults, Kharkiv is making ready to usher in 2023. Residents will have the ability to have fun the brand new yr on the Universytet metro station, the place the town’s most important Christmas tree has been put in. However locals should go to earlier than the town’s curfew, which since December 6 has been from 11:00 pm to five:00 am.

Kherson Oblast

Russian troopers continued shelling Ukrainian-held positions and important civilian infrastructure on the fitting financial institution of the Dnipro River. On simply in the future, December 15, the Russian army attacked Kherson greater than 16 occasions.

On the identical time, Russia is planning to withdraw a few of its troops from Nova Kakhovka and Kakhovka, on the east aspect of the river. The Normal Workers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on December 17 that the “Russian army is spreading info amongst native residents that Kakhovka can be left by Russian troops by the top of this yr, due to this fact they recommend that locals loyal to the occupiers transfer to the quickly occupied Ukrainian Crimea.”

New FSB teams have arrived within the south to seek for the Ukrainian underground. In line with the Nationwide Resistance Heart, these FSB items will perform indicators and digital intelligence, together with intercepting calls, monitoring web site visitors, and jamming indicators throughout the motion of Russian army gear. The Heart warns residents to be cautious.

“The exercise of the partisans was considerably decisive within the battle for Kherson, as a result of it was because of their assist that it was attainable to destroy a whole lot of gear and manpower of the Russian forces,” Normal Dmytro Marchenko stated in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.

On December 12, the automobile of Vitalii Buliuk, a former deputy of the Kherson Regional Council and collaborator, exploded within the Russian-occupied metropolis of Skadovsk. The town council reported that Buliuk was taken to one of many Simferopol hospitals with accidents. Russia’s Interfax information company confirmed the knowledge, citing the occupation authorities.

New proof of Russian crimes has been present in Kherson Oblast. In line with Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, the Russian army arrange torture chambers for youngsters who, within the occupiers’ opinion, supplied resistance. Lubinets printed the story of a 14 year-old who was kidnapped by the Russian army for photographing destroyed gear and held for 10 days in a unit the place he heard the screams of different inmates being overwhelmed.

“I spent the primary 6 days within the bathe, within the firm of 13 individuals. Typically they modified, somebody was taken out, somebody was taken. It was chilly and dreary and I used to be sporting solely a light-weight jacket, t-shirt and a sweater,” {the teenager} stated. “4 extra days I used to be in a room with blocked home windows, which was by no means ventilated. There was a horrible odor of mice. I didn’t eat a single meal these days.”

The A7053 army unit requested Kherson residents to voluntarily give up the weapons they acquired from February 24 to March 1, throughout the formation of the territorial protection brigade. The Kherson metropolis council reported the request on Telegram and offered directions.

Luhansk Oblast

Russian occupying forces have intensified conscription in occupied Luhansk Oblast, aspiring to replenish their personnel. In line with Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk Oblast Army Administration, nearly everybody in Milove and Khrustalne has acquired a conscription discover, with out regard to age, well being, or variety of youngsters. Additionally, within the metropolis of Krasnyi Luch, the variety of patrols checking males’s paperwork, handing out conscription notices, and taking conscripts to draft facilities has elevated.

The occupation authorities in Luhansk Oblast are additionally scrapping mining gear and making ready to shut mines. In line with the Luhansk Oblast Army Administration, such exercise has been reported in Dovzhansk, the place about 700 mine staff had been informed to search for new jobs. Tools is being dismantled in Azot, in Sievierodonetsk, (which was the third largest producer of ammonia within the nation and one of many largest in Europe).

“That is the fact – vans are taking the surviving technological gear to Russia. Specifically, to Rossosh, Voronezh Oblast, the place there’s a comparable enterprise,” the administration reported.

The Russians are additionally recruiting individuals to construct fortifications and dig trenches in Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. In line with the Russian media outlet Meduza (based mostly in Latvia), the corporate that constructed the Kerch bridge to Crimea is providing work on a shift foundation for 30 to 90 days, paying 89,000 rubles (greater than $1,200) to 258,000 thousand rubles (round $3,600).

In the meantime, all hospitals within the occupied a part of Luhansk Oblast are getting used to deal with Russian troopers. In line with the Nationwide Resistance Heart, the scenario is especially acute in Kreminna and Luhansk. “Luhansk Metropolis Multidisciplinary Hospital No. 15 at present refuses to serve civilians and is meant to be lastly reoriented for the wants of army service in December,” the Heart studies.

The Heart additionally says Russian forces are persevering with the unlawful switch of Ukrainian youngsters to Russia. Specifically, 40 youngsters from Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk had been taken to Russia for pressured “therapy” in youngsters’s camps.

“The kids should not returned to their dad and mom till they arrive to choose them up. Then the household just isn’t allowed again, as a result of the Russians imposed martial regulation on quickly occupied territory,” the Heart stated on its web site. “In the most effective case, youngsters within the camp are merely brainwashed. They’re informed that Ukraine began this battle, and well-known Russian actors, sportsmen and bloggers who use their “authority” for propaganda functions communicate in entrance of the youngsters.”

Mykolaiv Oblast

Restore crews proceed to work to revive infrastructure broken by Russian troopers.

In line with preliminary knowledge, the Russian army has triggered a minimum of $900 million in injury to Mykolaiv for the reason that starting of the full-scale battle. The size of the injury was calculated utilizing an in depth geoinformation system, in accordance to Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych.

There are not any civilians left on the Kinburn Spit, which continues to be beneath Russian management, in line with Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv Oblast Army Administration. “Rather less than every week in the past, the Russians forcibly evicted civilians and took them to Crimea,” Kim stated. “These are small villages, they mainly lived there on the expense of vacationers and in winter 100-200 individuals lived there in peacetime. Subsequently, for now, there are solely enemy troopers there.”

Regulation enforcement authorities proceed to detain native residents suspected of collaborating with Russian forces throughout the occupation. In a single case, a resident of the Shevchenkove neighborhood was detained on suspicion of aiding the Russian army by stealing a automobile for them, voluntarily taking water to their positions and serving to steal the property of an area farmer, in line with an investigation by the regional prosecutor’s workplace.

Demining continues within the liberated territories. On December 16 one other warehouse containing Russian ammunition was found within the metropolis of Snihurivka and handed over to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Newborns from Kherson can be quickly registered in Mykolaiv, as a result of considerations for the security of tourists and workers and the truth that Russian troopers looted the power in Kherson. Photos of the injury had been printed by the Kherson metropolis council.

Regardless of the shelling, a Christmas tree was put in in Mykolaiv with a particular army look this yr, writes Suspilne. The monument to Saint Nicholas within the metropolis heart has been coated with camouflage netting and illumination. All residents have been inspired to brighten it with toys.

Zaporizhzhia Oblast

Occupying forces have imposed an all-night curfew within the Russian-controlled areas of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. In line with the Normal Workers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there can be restrictions from 25 December in Chernihivka, and from 30 December to three January in Berdiansk.

The Russians are additionally making ready for avenue battles in quickly occupied Melitopol. In line with Mayor Ivan Fedorov, they’re putting “dragon’s enamel” nearer to civilians – in the course of central streets and residential areas.

The mayor additionally reported that Russian forces have stopped letting individuals go away the occupied territories of Ukraine. Not a single resident has left the town since December 15. It was attainable to depart the occupation zone by means of Donetsk Oblast or Crimea in the direction of Georgia, Estonia, and Latvia, however lately, there have been extra circumstances when the Russians flip Ukrainian automobiles again on the border of Russia and European nations.

“It’s one other instance of the occupiers’ terror in motion: they’re so afraid of the assault of the Armed Forces that they’re holding all civilians hostage as ‘human shields’,” wrote Fedorov.

The Russian forces are additionally holding 232 residents of Zaporizhzhia Oblast as hostages, in line with Oleksandr Starukh, the pinnacle of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Army Administration. “Worldwide oversight and watchdog organizations exhibit their helplessness concerning these violations of the rights to life and security,” he stated.

As a result of giant losses of the Russian military, cellular crematoria have been arrange in Tokmak, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, in line with the Normal Workers, which additionally stated quite a few troopers had been taken to Crimean hospitals. As in different areas, the Russian occupiers are forcing residents to modify to rubles and apply for Russian passports within the Melitopol district.

“The occupiers are attempting to financially encourage the native inhabitants to collaborate, offering money help to pensioners within the quantity of 10,000 rubles (roughly $145) and paying the next wage to loyal native residents who agreed to work within the establishments of the so-called occupying forces,” the Normal Workers reported. This was confirmed by Melitopol Mayor Fedorov, who stated the Russian occupiers purpose to withdraw the Ukrainian hryvnia from January 1.