Russia offers fast-track citizenship to residents of occupied Ukraine
A view of a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works damaged during showers of brightly-burning munitions, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Mariupol, Ukraine, in this undated still image obtained from a handout video released on May 15, 2022.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday simplifying the process for residents of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to acquire Russian citizenship and passports.
The decree extends a scheme available since 2019 to residents of areas controlled by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
