Russia forces Ukrainian citizens in occupied Donetsk Oblast into its army

The NRC highlighted Russian attempts to exploit the civilian population as a resource for their war effort.

Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin-appointed head of the so-called "DPR," has signed an order to prepare local residents for service in the Russian army. In reality, this constitutes the forced conscription of Russian passport holders living in Oblast.

The occupation authorities are attempting to disguise the mobilization process by presenting it as a gathering of reservists, even though the term "reservists" is absent from the official document. Local military recruitment offices and commandant's offices are actively overseeing the process to enforce conscription, NRC noted.

The document explicitly mandates the drafting and deployment of conscripts into Russian forces, contradicting previous claims by occupation officials that participation will be voluntary. The NRC reports that the first phase of mobilization is scheduled for March-April 2025, allowing it to be concealed within Russia’s regular spring draft.