
While the war in Ukraine is being pursued primarily through frontline movements, behind it Russia is building a much longer-term structure in the territories it controls.
In the occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, Russian institutions are gradually replacing Ukrainian ones and changing the way daily life functions.
Schools use Russian curricula, Russian documents are associated with receiving services, and Moscow systems control areas from housing to administration.
In June, Vladimir Putin stated that the goal is to integrate these territories into a common legal, economic, educational, cultural and informational space with Russia by 2030.
According to The Atlantic's analysis, the goal is to make the Russian presence permanent and make the restoration of Ukrainian institutions increasingly difficult.
Russian passport for work, pensions and services
One of the main tools is documentation. Residents are required to have Russian passports to receive pensions, work, receive state benefits, or continue their studies.
Even local phone operators require Russian documents for SIM cards.
For men aged 18 to 65, Russian citizenship also entails compulsory military service. According to the analysis, from February 2022 to the end of 2025, about 50,000 Ukrainians were forcibly mobilized to fight against their country.
At the same time, ownership is changing. Since 2024, Russian authorities have confiscated or identified for confiscation at least 34,000 properties belonging to Ukrainian citizens.
Some of them have begun to be given to Russian citizens, while the analysis says that the aim is to increase the number of Russians in the occupied territories to one million by 2045.
From economics to information control
Moscow has also restricted access to independent media, communication apps and Ukrainian websites, shifting the communications infrastructure under Russian-controlled networks.
Infrastructure investments also have a military dimension. According to an analysis by The Atlantic, Russia has spent about $425 million on railways, while the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk have been integrated into its maritime network.
During 2025 alone, more than 2 million tons of grain were exported from the occupied territories.
Children at the center of Russification
One of the most important elements of the strategy is education. Some 1.6 million Ukrainian children live under occupation, and, according to the analysis, Russia has made their ideological education a state priority.
Youth organizations linked to patriotic and military education have also expanded in the occupied territories. The “Movement of the First” has more than half a million members, while Yunarmia has at least 44,000. Children and young people are trained in areas including the use of weapons, drone piloting, reconnaissance, and other military skills.
This is precisely the main warning of the American magazine's analysis: the longer these institutions function, the more difficult it may become for Ukraine to restore sovereignty and social, institutional, and cultural ties if the territories were to one day return to Kiev's control.