Russians in Kherson threaten to take children, force them to get Russian passports

(Patria) - Russian occupation authorities in the Kherson region are forcing parents to obtain Russian passports, threatening them with the confiscation of children and the loss of parental rights, the Ukrainian Center for National Resistance reported.

"These are not documents. These are instruments of terror," said Kherson Oblast Governor Ivan Dudariev to the Center.

Russia is carrying out forced passportization in the occupied territories with the aim of consolidating control and erasing the Ukrainian identity of the residents under occupation.

In the village of Askaniya-Nova, located deep in the occupied territory, parents are openly threatened with the confiscation of their children or the loss of parental rights if they do not accept Russian citizenship. Askaniya-Nova is about 52 kilometers from parts of the Kherson region under Ukrainian control.

According to the Center for National Resistance, Ukrainian civilians in occupied zones without a Russian passport cannot receive medical assistance, cannot pass through military checkpoints, and are exposed to the danger of mobilization.

"Parents are blackmailed through their children, and children are blackmailed through the education system. Today, it is simply impossible to survive in the occupied territories without Russian documents," Kateryna Rashevska, a legal advisor at the Regional Center for Human Rights in Kyiv, told the Kyiv Independent.