The Kremlin has officially incorporated the occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions into Russia’s Southern Military District, the Center for Countering Disinformation reported on Nov. 6.

The district already included occupied Crimea, and the move creates a basis for the expansion of conscription in currently occupied territories.

Ukrainian officials warn this dramatically increases the threat of illegal mobilization of residents into Russia’s armed forces.

Any such forced conscription of Ukrainians on occupied land is considered a war crime under international law.

According to Ukraine’s intelligence services, since the start of the full-scale war in 2022 until summer 2024, Russia has mobilized approximately 300,000 men from the local population in occupied Ukraine, as reported by the Eastern Human Rights Group and the Institute for Strategic Studies and Security (ISRS).

Russian authorities doesn’t just target the youth. In a January report, Yellow Ribbon noted that they tend to focus mobilization efforts on Ukrainians in “difficult life situations,” such as orphans, children of people with disabilities, and boys whose parents are in the hospital with cancer or other serious health problems.

Russia is also moving toward formalizing year-round military conscription starting Jan. 1, 2026, under a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read also: Exclusive: Russia struggling to meet mobilization targets in occupied Crimea, Ukraine says

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