Russia’s Goal Met: Thousands Drafted in Occupied Ukraine Territories
Last year, Russia achieved its goal of mobilizing thousands of men from occupied Ukrainian territories. This was revealed by Bohdan Okhrimenko, the head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, in an interview with Ukrinform on February 22.
To avoid a popular mass mobilization campaign at home, Russia has been drafting residents from occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. They have also done this in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia.
Okhrimenko stated that Russia exceeded its mobilization goals for these regions in 2024. He cited Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) as the source of this information.
According to Okhrimenko, Russia had a plan to mobilize thousands of people from newly occupied territories and those previously under occupation. This goal was met by 104%, with thousands more people being drafted into the Russian military.
The Ukrainian government is working on changing legislation to remove prisoner of war (POW) status from Ukrainians who are forcibly mobilized but later captured in Ukraine.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been forcibly drafted into the Russian army. This year, nearly 5,500 residents of occupied Crimea were mobilized into the Russian military.