Moscow is planning to draft residents of an occupied section of southeastern Ukraine, into the Russian military, British military officials said over the weekend.
The pro-Russian governor of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast signed a decree last month stating that the Kremlin is preparing the “necessary infrastructure and measures” for military conscription, British officials said.
It would be the first conscription drive since Russia illegally annexed the region in September 2022. The Kremlin likely sees this measure as a way of satisfying the needs of the Russian armed forces for additional personnel in its war effort, UK officials said Sunday on X in their latest assessment of the battlefield.
British intelligence officials said a “significant proportion” of the population of Zaporizhzhia has fled, meaning the effect of the conscription drive is likely to be limited.
Only 40% of the prewar population remains In Melitopol, the largest city in the oblast under Russian control, and half of that number are ethnic Russians who were lured to the city by offers of jobs.
The decree is part of a broader campaign by Russian government officials to coerce the population to accept governance by the Kremlin. The move also aligns with attempts to ensure residents have Russian Federation passports and vote in recent Russian elections, UK intelligence analysts said.
“The Kremlin continues to pursue a relentless Russification policy across the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” British officials said.
