By Galina Korol | 2024-01-11

KYIV -- Assurances by the occupation authorities about life in what they call the "new regions of Russia" are not masking the grim reality on the ground.

With each passing day in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, life is becoming more arduous and dangerous for Ukrainians living there.

"The humanitarian situation in the temporarily occupied territories is worsening. ... In particular, the water supply situation in Berdyansk is critical. ... The city also has a critical situation with medicines," the National Resistance Center of Ukraine wrote in English on its website January 6.

The threat of losing health care

Beginning in 2024, Ukrainians could lose the right to medical care in their own country.

"From January 1, you can get help only if you have mandatory Russian health insurance, which can be obtained only if you have a Russian passport," the National Resistance Center said in an English-language statement posted December 30.

Ukrainian special forces created that news site to support and coordinate everyone trying to liberate Russian-occupied Ukrainian lands.

In Mariupol and the surrounding area, at this point no widespread denial of medical services has been observed, Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the lawful mayor of Mariupol, told Kontur.

The occupiers may have spread this information among the local population with the primary goal of intimidating them, he said.

"This is a case of the Russian authorities, FSB [Federal Security Service] offices and Ukrainian collaborators exerting psychological pressure ... to keep supporters of Ukraine in a constant state of fear," Andriushchenko said.

Yet these pressure tactics could turn into real policy.

No insulin

Last summer some diabetics did not get the insulin they needed, Andriushchenko said.

"The authorities began denying insulin to people who didn't have a Russian passport. There were also stories about how even openly pro-Russian people submitted the documents and just couldn't get insulin," he said.

In the occupied territories, the authorities have learned to make cosmetic changes but are incapable of governing effectively, said Andriushchenko.

For example, repairing hospitals is pointless in Mariupol, which "simply has no" doctors or nurses now, he said.

"You could build hospitals forever, but if there's no one to work in them, they'll be useless," he said.

Even procuring medicine is a challenge in the occupied territories, he added.

"There's a slew of medicines that senior citizens need and that they're not getting for free despite all the statements by the occupiers, and [these people] are forced to buy them," he said.

"But in Mariupol the majority of senior citizens did not receive their pension benefits for December and January," he said.

Deportation and a tax for being Ukrainian

Every move by the occupation authorities is designed to force Ukrainian citizens to take Russian citizenship, said Mikhail Savva, a Ukrainian political scientist and expert at the country's Center for Civil Liberties.

Starting on July 1, residents of the occupied territories who have declined Russian citizenship in writing will be deemed foreigners.

"We have official information in the form of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's Decree No. 307 of April 27, 2023, which says that starting on July 1, 2024, people who keep their Ukrainian citizenship will be regarded as foreigners and may be deported.

"This means that the decree has a very broad list of grounds for deportation, and essentially anyone may be deported," Savva told Kontur.

Destinations for those personae non gratae are unclear, but the occupiers apparently do not want them either in the occupied territories or in Russia.

A migration card theoretically protects Ukrainians from that fate, but obtaining one is not simple, warned Andrej Orlov, a native of Russian-occupied Melitopol and director of the Center for Strategic Development of the Territories.

"If you don't get a [Russian] passport in the future, you'll have to pay a tax," he said.

"For example, if you're from Melitopol, to get a migration card or apply for one in the future ... say in January or February 2024 ... you'll need to go to Simferopol [in Crimea] and apply there."

"This [application] will cost a certain amount," he added. "They will want to levy a tax for the period you lived without a Russian passport."

Registering children for military service

Meanwhile, children are being subjected to militarized education reminiscent of Soviet times -- as well as to a draft for 18-year-olds.

Schoolchildren who have been force-fed propaganda and Russian culture for almost two years are now reliving the in-school military training their forefathers had to undergo.

Occupation authorities "are operating according to the same templates that were developed and deployed by the Soviet Union in the early 1930s and to GTO [Ready for Labor and Defense] standards," said Andriushchenko.

Children "in physical education classes are tested not only on running, jumping and things like that but also on throwing grenades -- exactly like in Soviet times."

Worse yet, the occupiers are preparing to draft 18-year-olds in those territories.

Starting this year, all males ages 17 and up are required to register for military service.

"There truly are documents and requirements, and [the occupiers] are preparing children in schools to register for military service," said Andriuschenko.

"These documents exist, and I've uploaded them for public access."

"And next spring [2024] there will be the first full-fledged draft for the occupied territories," he said.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is coming in the spring, after the elections," he said, referring to the March presidential balloting in Russia.

Russia's actions in Ukraine blatantly violate the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, said Yaroslav Kuts of Kyiv, a lawyer and director of the A2KT law firm.

"If you aren't Russian and you won't get Russian citizenship, we'll take away your right to health care, the right to own property, the right to education," Kuts told Kontur.