Russia may increase mobilization in occupied Ukraine, but not at Ukrainians' expense - human rights activist

He said this on Espreso TV.

"The Russians have their own schedules and figures for mobilization in the occupied territories. If they work very hard, they can recruit up to 10,000 people from each part of the occupied region. This is assuming that the occupiers use all their forces. However, it should be noted that every month there is an outflow of the local population from the occupied territory. As an example, I recently showed the internal documentation of the occupation administration for the town of Enerhodar, where the population decreased by 65% from 2023 to 2024. And this is the documentation of the occupiers themselves. Therefore, the fact that they can recruit as many people as possible now does not mean that they will mobilize the same number in the future," said the director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Security.

According to him, the ethno-national composition of the population is changing in the temporarily occupied territories. Ukrainians and pro-Ukrainian citizens of Ukraine are not allowed to enter the occupied territories, and they are trying to throw them out.

"The occupied territories are populated by migrants from Central Asia, Chechens, and others. The occupying administrations are seriously discussing and planning to build mosques in the cities within these territories. Consequently, the mobilization resources there may increase not at the expense of Ukrainian citizens—who are being expelled and not allowed to enter—but at the expense of the migrants residing in the occupied territory. Additionally, convicts from Russian prisons are now being sent to serve their sentences in the occupied territories because they can be mobilized more quickly from there. It is problematic to transport a group of convicts from the Urals to Donbas; however, if they are already serving their sentences in the occupied territories, it is much more efficient. In this way, the Russians are attempting to enhance the mobilization potential of the occupied territories," Lysianskyi summarized.

• The Center for National Resistance reported that 16 schoolchildren were forced to swear allegiance to Russia in the temporarily occupied Luhansk region.
• In the Luhansk region, the Russians are depriving people without a Russian passport of benefits and threatening them with other sanctions.