Statement of the MFA of Ukraine on the issuance of Russian passports to citizens of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine condemns the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, which opens the way to forcing the inhabitants of the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian army in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to acquire the Russian citizenship.

Illegal passportization in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, as well as in Crimea and the temporarily occupied part of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, is a gross violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, norms and principles of international humanitarian law, as well as obligations of the Russian Federation as an occupying power, in accordance with Article 45 of the Hague Convention of 1907 and Article 47 of the Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949.

The decree of the President of Russia is legally null and void and will have no legal consequences. This decision will not affect the belonging to the citizenship of Ukraine of the residents in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia.

Forced passportization of Ukrainians in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia is yet one more evidence of the criminal goal of Russia’s war against Ukraine - the conquest of Ukrainian territories for their further occupation and integration into Russia’s legal, political and economic space.

As Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba emphasized, Ukraine calls on the international community to stop Russia, which is committing crimes against Ukraine and Ukrainians on a scale unknown in Europe since World War II. We demand to adopt immediately the sixth EU sanctions package, which will include an embargo on Russian oil, and to launch the elaboration of the seventh sanctions package. The Russian regime must be brought to justice, while the Russian military machinery must be deprived of financial resources.

We also call on international partners to speed up decisions on the further provision of weapons to Ukraine, especially MLRS, in order to protect Ukrainian territories from the Russian aggression.

Procrastination will only encourage the Putin regime to continue committing crimes against Ukraine and destroying peace and security in Europe.