Kathrine Frich
A new legal change is reshaping daily life for families living under Russian occupation.
What appears to be a bureaucratic update is, according to activists, creating new barriers for those trying to leave.
The impact is being felt most sharply by children.
New travel barrier
A Russian law that came into force on Jan. 20 now requires children under 14 in occupied Ukrainian territories to hold a Russian international passport in order to travel abroad.
Russian state outlet TASS reported the change, citing Russia’s Interior Ministry migration service.
Without such a passport, children can no longer cross borders, even when families are attempting to flee occupied areas.
The measure does not apply to travel within Russia or to certain allied or occupied regions.
Russian citizens may still travel to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the occupied Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia using only a domestic passport.
Forced legal status
The law follows a March 20, 2025 decree signed by President Vladimir Putin ordering Ukrainians in occupied territories to “regulate their legal status” under Russian law or leave.
Rights groups say the policy effectively forces residents to accept Russian citizenship.
Activists argue the new passport requirement is part of a broader effort to impose Russian legal identity on Ukrainian children.
It adds another layer to what they describe as a campaign of enforced “Russification”.
The move obliges children to obtain not only Russian domestic documents, but international passports as well.
Escape made harder
Iryna Sedova of the Crimean Human Rights Group said the purpose of the law is to block families from leaving.
She told Suspilne Crimea that the rule is designed to prevent Ukrainians from taking their children out of occupied territory.
Olha Chentsova, an evacuation coordinator with the NGO Helping to Leave, said the requirement “significantly complicates” escape efforts.
She told the Kyiv Independent that without a passport it is now impossible to buy even a ticket to neighboring Belarus.
Families under pressure often decide to leave within a day, she said, something now made impossible.
Financial strain
Chentsova warned that the process could also impose heavy costs, especially for families in smaller towns.
Fees, paperwork and travel to administrative centers may be required to obtain the documents.
“Russia continues to impose legislative barriers to the outflow of children from the occupied territories and continues its genocidal policy,” she said.
Activists say the cumulative effect is to trap families in place.
Children under occupation
Life under occupation often exposes children to constant Russian propaganda. According to a joint report by Save Ukraine and War Child U.K., published on Sept. 11, more than half of Ukrainian children in occupied areas experienced indoctrination.
Based on testimony from 200 returned children, researchers described the campaign as the largest assault on children’s rights in Europe since the Yugoslav wars.
“Every day felt like we were being shaped into something we weren’t. They didn’t treat us like kids. They wanted us to behave like their soldiers,” a 16-year-old girl from Kherson Oblast said.
Sources: Kyiv Independent, TASS.
