UK intelligence says Russia is extirpating Ukrainian identity in occupied territories

Russia is taking steps to Russify people living in the territory it has illegally occupied since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

UK intelligence said that Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin signed a decree titled "Strategy of Russia's national policy in the period to 2036", which was published on 25 November.

"The Russian authorities have been directed to build Russian identity and increase the use of the Russian language in the territory it illegally occupies in Ukraine.

The document … highlights a continued Russification policy, forcing Russian language, identity and culture on to the residents of sovereign Ukrainian territory.

The policy forms part of Russia's longstanding efforts to extirpate Ukrainian and delegitimise Ukrainian statehood," UK Defence Intelligence updated on X.

UK intelligence pointed out that Russia defines both occupied and unoccupied territories of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, as well as Crimea, as being parts of Russia.

"The document's reference to these sovereign Ukrainian oblasts as 'historical territories of the Russian state' emphasises the overtly imperialist aspect of Russia's continuing efforts to subjugate Ukraine," UK intelligence noted.

Earlier, UK intelligence analysed Russia's personnel losses since the start of the full-scale invasion.

It also assessed the likely number of North Korean military personnel sent to support Russia in its war against Ukraine.