Russia confirmed they were the aggressor state with the order on the issuance of the Russian passports to the Ukrainian citizens on the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk. The press service of Volodymyr Zelensky reported that.
“Those actions are the proofs for the international society that Russia is the aggressor state, which unleashed a war against Ukraine. Unfortunately, this order does not help us to solve the main problem – the ceasefire regime,” the report said.
Besides, according to the report, Ukraine will do everything possible in order to protect, to provide the citizens of Ukraine with necessary help and to secure the rights of its citizens, who were forced to live on the occupied territories.
“Ukraine is counting on the international support concerning the defense of interests, rights, and freedoms of the Ukrainian citizens on the occupied territories. We are counting on the strengthening of the diplomatic pressure and imposing of sanctions against the Russian Federation,” the report added.
As it was reported, Russia wanted to facilitate the process of obtaining Russian citizenship for the residents of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics after presidential elections in Ukraine. Putin’s decree was required for that.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs reported that people who get Russian passports will lose their Ukrainian citizenship.