“De facto annexation has begun”: occupiers are handing out russian passports in Mariupol

In Mariupol and the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk region, the invaders began to issue russian passports to the population.

Mariupol mayor's adviser, Petro Andriushchenko, announced this on Telegram.

"Top news about russian passports for Kherson and Zaporizhzhia will not be complete if we don't add that today the so-called DPR launched issuing russian passports in Mariupol, and the newly occupied territories of the Donetsk region without obtaining a passport of the so-called DPR. The de-facto Mariupol annexation has begun," Andriushchenko wrote.

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russian president vladimir putin has signed a decree according to which russia will grant citizenship to residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine under a simplified procedure.

russia's aggression provoked one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes in Mariupol. russian invaders virtually destroyed the city by shelling, killing at least 22,000 people.

Today Mariupol has no energy, water, and gas supply. The city is on the verge of environmental and infectious catastrophe. More than 100,000 people remain in the captured city.