Russia is conducting the "Illegal-2026" operation in the occupied territories — intelligence
Kyiv • UNN
Russian security forces are looking for Ukrainians without Russian passports and applying migration regulations to them. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine calls the campaign an instrument of ethnocide.
Russian security forces carried out another phase of the "Illegal-2026" operation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine during the first ten days of October 2026 — a criminal campaign by the invaders against the Ukrainian population. This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, according to UNN.
Details
According to the HUR, as part of this campaign, Russian security forces are conducting raids to identify those who have refused to obtain citizenship of the aggressor state. In the absence of Russian passports, Ukrainians are registered as "foreign citizens" and subjected to Russian migration legislation.
In practice, the occupiers’ operation is an instrument of ethnocide: the aggressor state is driving Ukrainians out of the temporarily occupied territories and replacing them with Russians brought in from elsewhere. Such a policy by Moscow constitutes the forcible alteration of Ukrainian identity. Under international law, in particular the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the corresponding actions of the aggressor state Russia bear the hallmarks of genocide against the Ukrainian people
It is also noted that similar measures are being carried out inside the Russian Federation itself: in particular, they are hunting for migrant workers, who may subsequently be pressured into signing contracts to serve in Russia’s occupation forces.
We remind you
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine reported that the population of the occupied Donbas had decreased by almost one-third over ten years.