Russia fulfilled its goal of mobilizing thousands of men in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine last year, Bohdan Okhrimenko, head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, told the news outlet Ukrinform in an interview Feb. 22.
In its efforts to avoid an unpopular mass mobilization campaign at home, Russia has illegally drafted thousands of residents living in occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, as well as in occupied Crimea.
Russia exceeded its mobilization goals for these regions in 2024, Okhrimenko told Ukrinform, citing Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR).
"In 2024, Russia had to mobilize thousands of people from the newly occupied territories and those who had previously been under occupation," Okhrimenko said.
"According to (HUR), this plan has been fulfilled by 104%. They have a plan for mobilization here and for the current year. It is also thousands of people."
Okhrimenko did not say exactly how many people in the occupied territories had been drafted into the Russian military.
The Ukrainian government is working on amending legislation to remove prisoner of war (POW) status from forcibly mobilized Ukrainians who are later captured in Ukraine.
"There is a certain legal incident in international documents, international law, so we are working on amending Resolution No. 413 and a number of other resolutions," Okhrimenko said.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia has supplemented its troops by forcibly drafting tens of thousands of Ukrainians in occuped territories. Nearly 5,500 residents of Russian-occupied Crimea were mobilized into the Russian army in 2024 — a year that saw record personnel losses as Moscow ramped up its offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Forced conscription under occupation constitutes a war crime under international law.
Francis Farrell
