Authors: Karolina Hird, Zachary Yacht, and Paul Conroy

Data cut off: 12:45 pm ET, July 28

ISW's Russian Occupation Update tracks the activities that occur in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. The Occupation Updates examine Russian efforts to consolidate administrative control of annexed areas and forcibly integrate Ukrainian citizens into Russian sociocultural, economic, military, and governance systems. This product line replaces the section of the daily Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment covering activities in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

To read ISW’s assessment of how Russian activities in occupied areas of Ukraine are part of a coerced Russification and ethnic cleansing campaign, click here.

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Click here to view our special reports since 2025.

Russia is setting conditions to broadly prosecute residents of occupied Ukraine for alleged “anti-Russian” activity that took place before Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Zaporizhia Oblast occupation prosecutor’s office announced on July 25 that it investigated a resident of occupied Yamykivka (Russified as Akimovka) for anti-Russian “extremist statements” that the resident posted on a social media page in 2014. The occupation prosecutor’s office concluded that the resident was guilty of an administrative offense, fined him 10,000 rubles ($123), and forced him to remove the post. The Yamykivka case is noteworthy because it suggests that Russia will begin to prosecute residents of occupied Zaporizhia Oblast with perceived “crimes” or indiscretions committed eight years before Russia’s illegal invasion and annexation of Zaporizhia Oblast in 2022. Russian officials will likely pursue similar cases in the other occupied oblasts. Russian occupation courts have frequently used similar cases against Ukrainians between 2022 and 2025 for perceived “anti-Russian” activity by levying spurious “treason” or “espionage” charges, as ISW has previously reported. The Yamykivka case will open the door for Russia to prosecute any resident of occupied Ukraine for any activity they have ever engaged in that the occupation administration deems as “anti-Russian,” no matter when said activity took place.

Key Takeaways:



• Russia is setting conditions to broadly prosecute residents of occupied Ukraine for alleged “anti-Russian” activity that took place before Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

• Russia is mobilizing deported Ukrainian youth into the Russian military in clear violation of international law.

• Russian officials, federal entities, and federal subjects continue to facilitate the forced removal and deportation of Ukrainian children for their indoctrination and militarization.

• Russia continues to consolidate control of the media space in occupied Ukraine in an effort to “manufacture consensus” within the local population to create the impression of popular buy-in for the Russian occupation.

• Russia is incentivizing the relocation of Russians to occupied Ukraine to compensate for labor shortages in occupied areas. These relocation programs also support Russian efforts to Russify occupied Ukraine by repopulating occupied areas with Russian citizens. 

• Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on July 25 codifying incentives for businesses to invest in Russia’s occupation of Ukraine. 

Click Here to Read the Full Update

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