Russia’s Resettlement Strategy in Occupied Ukraine | ISW Briefing Room

Russia has occupied about 20 percent of Ukraine for over four years. In this video, ISW National Security Fellow Karolina Hird explains Russia’s campaign to repopulate occupied areas of Ukraine with Russian citizens, of which occupied Mariupol has become the epicenter. The resettlement campaign is part of Moscow’s efforts to “Russify” Ukraine — forcibly remaking occupied areas in Russia’s own image. Read the full special report about Russian resettlement in occupied Ukraine: https://isw.pub/RussiasResettlementSt... Data Cutoff: June 16, 2026 Additional resources: Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/... Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/feature/russia-uk... New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/wo... CEPA: https://cepa.org/article/behind-the-l... Krym.Realii: https://ua.krymr.com/a/krym-rosiyski-... ICRC Geneva Convention, Article 49: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl... Rome Statute of the ICC, Article 8: https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default...