Mass conscription and repopulation: what the Russians are preparing in the occupied territories

The Russian authorities have completed preparations for a mass conscription of residents of the occupied Ukrainian territories, creating a rigid system of military registration. The Russians have also launched a large-scale repopulation program aimed at completely changing the ethnic composition of the population.

The head of the Center for the Study of Occupation, Petro Andryushchenko, reported on the air of “Pryamoy” that the invaders plan to move from covert recruiting to open mobilization activities.

According to him, obtaining a Russian passport, which was a condition of survival for men under occupation, automatically made them a resource for the aggressor’s army.

“The Russians, particularly in the Donetsk region, are already planning the first wave of real mobilization in April, not recruitment, the kind that exists today in the occupied territories, but direct mobilization,” Andryuschenko said.

At the same time, he adds, the rate of recruitment remains low due to the occupiers’ fear of possible riots. In particular, in the Zaporizhia region, only up to 150 people are recruited per year, mainly through deception or promises of large sums of money.

However, the creation of a dense accounting system, which exceeds the Ukrainian one in severity, allows the enemy to launch a large-scale conscription at any time. The occupiers are focusing on the territories captured by 2022, where control is considered more stable, Andryuschenko explains.

In addition, according to his information, a large-scale repopulation program is being implemented in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, aimed at completely changing the ethnic composition of the population, and the priority cities for settlement by Russian citizens have become Mariupol, Luhansk, and Melitopol.

“In Mariupol, today, 8,600 apartments of Mariupol residents who are being evacuated are recognized as ownerless. This is also a potential asset that will be distributed primarily to Russians,” says Andryuschenko.

According to the plans of the invaders, by 2027, in Mariupol alone, they plan to accommodate up to 50 thousand visitors from Russia through new houses. At the same time, an aggressive policy is being pursued to destroy Ukrainian identity among young people, – noted the head of the Center for the Study of Occupation Petro Andryuschenko.

As a reminder, Russia launched a propaganda campaign among teenagers in the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region on the eve of the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, which are scheduled for September 2026. One of the elements of this campaign was a competition for children aged 14-18 called “Our choice is Russia!”.

At the same time, Russian propaganda has intensified an information campaign aimed at disrupting the evacuation of civilians from frontline areas of Ukraine. Pro-Russian Telegram channels are massively distributing messages allegedly from “local residents” of the Donetsk region, where people thank the Russian military and claim that they hid children from evacuation.