Key Takeaways:
- Russia is forcibly deporting Ukrainian civilians from occupied Ukraine to Russia while engaging in a deeply systematic and institutionalized policy of torture against Ukrainians held in Russian detention.
- Russian reconstruction efforts in occupied Mariupol are leaving tens of thousands of residents displaced and homeless.
- Russian plans to deport at least 300 children from occupied Zaporizhia Oblast to the Chuvashia Republic during Summer 2025.
- Russia continues to use logistics and infrastructure projects to forcibly integrate Ukraine into its sphere of influence.
Russia is forcibly deporting Ukrainian civilians from occupied Ukraine to Russia while engaging in a deeply systematic and institutionalized policy of torture against Ukrainians held in Russian detention. The Viktoriia Project, a journalism collective comprised of 13 media outlets including the Guardian, Le Monde, and the Washington Post, published an investigation on April 30 detailing Russia’s systematic use of torture against Ukrainian prisoners at 29 identified Russian-run prisons—18 in Russia and 11 in occupied Ukraine.[1] The investigation found that Russia is holding a majority of the 16,000 detained Ukrainian civilians for months or years without any formal charges except the allegation of “opposing the special military operation” at as many as 180 separate sites in occupied Ukraine and Russia, including the prison in Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, where Russia tortured and killed Ukrainian investigative journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna (after whom the Viktoriia Project is named).[2] The Viktoriia Project also found that Russia has used 695 separate forms of torture, resulting in multiple fatalities at these facilities. ISW previously reported that Russian agents are likely conducting systematic Soviet-era torture practices, including beatings, humiliation, electric shocks, and dog attacks against Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians detained in occupied territories and Russia.[3] Legal experts told the Viktoriia Project that there is no official crime in the Russian legal code for “opposing the special military operation,” highlighting the apparent illegality of these actions even under Russian domestic law. Russia’s mass imprisonment of Ukrainians on legally dubious grounds likely also violates international legal prohibitions on arbitrary detention and deprivation of liberty and may additionally constitute illegal deportation, as Russia is removing Ukrainians from their homes to Russian-controlled institutions en masse.[4] Russia is a signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits both the forcible transfer/removal and the deportation of occupied populations by the occupying power.[5]
Russian reconstruction efforts in occupied Mariupol are leaving tens of thousands of residents displaced and homeless. Russian independent investigative outlet Bumaga reported on April 30 that it will take Russia at least 18 more years to fully “restore” Mariupol, despite frequent promises that Russia would rebuild the city by 2025.[6] Bumaga found that Russia is building the “Leningradsky Kvartal” residential complex in occupied Mariupol on the basis of demolished older housing and intends to sell apartments in the complex exclusively to Russian citizens, thereby displacing thousands of people who previously lived there. Residents of occupied Mariupol estimate that over 18,000 people lack housing—an issue that is apparently exacerbated by Russia’s preferential treatment of Russian expatriates who are now moving en masse to Mariupol in exchange for preferential mortgages and newly renovated properties.[7] Bugama also noted that Russian authorities are depriving residents of housing by declaring property “ownerless” and transferring it to state control, which is consistent with previous reports of how Russia is seizing private property to facilitate the relocation of Russians to occupied Ukraine, generate profit from the occupation of Ukraine, and consolidate bureaucratic control over occupied areas.[8] Bumaga’s investigation found that Russia’s Leningrad Oblast has been funding reconstruction projects in Mariupol and sending construction “specialists” to the city to assist with building projects, consistent with ISW’s prior assessment that Russian federal subjects (regions) provide patronage assistance to occupied areas in order to strengthen administrative ties between Russia and occupied Ukraine.[9] Russian reconstruction projects in Mariupol are likely in violation of various international legal principles. Russia, as the occupying power, is legally required to ensure the provision of adequate housing and shelter to the occupied population.[10] International law also explicitly prohibits Russia, as the occupying power, from transferring its own population to areas of Ukraine that it occupies.[11] Russian reconstruction projects in Mariupol appear to be directly facilitating the latter violation.[12]
Russian plans to deport at least 300 children from occupied Zaporizhia Oblast to the Chuvashia Republic during Summer 2025. Russian media outlet MKRU Zaporizhia reported on April 28 that Russian occupation officials plan to send 300 Ukrainian children from occupied Berdyansk, Zaporizhia Oblast, to the “Brigantina” and “Berezinka” summer camps in Chuvashia in Summer 2025.[13] The government-funded “Brigantina” camp charter states that the camp propagates Russian “spiritual, moral, civil patriotic, military patriotic, and labor education” in line with the rules and regulation of the Russian Federation.[14] Zaporizhia Oblast occupation officials have patronage ties with Chuvashia that facilitate the deportation of Ukrainian children to the Republic under the guise of participation in summer camps.[15] Russian media reported on June 14, 2023 that Zaporizhia occupation officials planned to send 300 children from occupied Berdyansk to Chuvashia in Summer 2023. ISW previously assessed that Russia will escalate the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia under the guise of summer camps in the coming months.[16]
Russia continues to use logistics and infrastructure projects to forcibly integrate Ukraine into its sphere of influence. First Deputy General Director of the Russian Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Novorossiya Railways” Oleg Kalevatykh announced on April 30 that Novorossiya Railways will start running trains through the Donetsk Railway Station in occupied Donetsk City for the first time since 2014 starting on May 9, coinciding with Victory Day.[17] The affiliation of the railway station opening with Russia’s Victory Day holiday is likely an intentional effort on the part of the occupation administration to claim that it has improved the living conditions and lives of Ukrainians under Russian occupation despite the fact that Russia harmed Ukrainians’ living conditions when it invaded Ukraine. Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Head Denis Pushilin previously stated in March that the Donetsk Oblast occupation administration is preparing to launch the Donetsk – Volnovakha railway line, service of which stopped in 2014 with Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine.[18] Novorossiya Railways already runs three lines through occupied Ukraine– the Donetsk branch, Luhansk branch, and Kherson-Melitopol branch (linking occupied Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts). Russia previously announced plans in March to develop 441 kilometers of rail lines through occupied Kherson Oblast.[19] The Russian Federal Road Agency (Rosavotrans) additionally announced on April 30 that occupation officials are launching interregional bus routes connecting occupied Kherson oblast with occupied Crimea and Moscow via occupied Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts to simplify and encourage increased movement between Russia and occupied Ukraine.[20] The Crimean occupation Ministry of Transport previously reported that over 80,000 Ukrainians travelled by bus from occupied Crimea to occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia oblasts in 2024.[21] Russian-controlled or -built bus routes and railway lines in occupied Ukraine allow Russia to consolidate influence over occupied areas and will help facilitate population transfers within occupied Ukraine and enable Russia’s economic exploitation of occupied areas, as ISW previously assessed.[22]
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/30/inside-taganrog-beatings-electrocution-and-starvation-at-prison-where-ukrainians-were-tortured?CMP=telegram_guardian
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/30/inside-taganrog-beatings-electrocution-and-starvation-at-prison-where-ukrainians-were-tortured?CMP=telegram_guardian; https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-occupation-update-may-1-2025
[3] https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-occupation-update-may-1-2025
[4] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule99
[5] https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/deportation
[6] https://paperpaper dot io/mariupol-obeshali-vosstanovit-v-2025-m-p/#section2; http://kremlin dot ru/events/president/news/69072
[7] https://paperpaper dot io/mariupol-obeshali-vosstanovit-v-2025-m-p/#section2; https://t.me/saniaworld/1619; https://cepa.org/article/behind-the-lines-ethnic-cleansing-by-home-loan/
[8] https://isw.pub/OccupationUpdate042125; https://isw.pub/RussianOccupationUpdate041025
[9] https://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/24-210-01%20ISW%20Occupation%20playbook.pdf
[10] https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/occupied-territory/
[11] https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/occupied-territory/
[12] https://paperpaper dot io/mariupol-obeshali-vosstanovit-v-2025-m-p/#section2
[13] https://www.mk-zap dot ru/social/2025/04/28/300-detey-iz-zaporozhskoy-oblasti-vnov-otpravyatsya-na-otdykh-v-chuvashiyu.html
[14] https://бригантина21 dot рф/index.php/об-организации/100-о-центр; https://бригантина21 dot рф/images/Ustav2024.pdf
[15] https://rg dot ru/2024/10/16/reg-pfo/kak-chuvashskaia-respublika-uchastvuet-v-vosstanovlenii-berdianskogo-okruga.html
[16] https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-occupation-update-april-28-2025
[17] https://tass dot ru/obschestvo/23829167
[18] https://tass dot dot ru/obschestvo/23829167
[19] https://eipp dot ru/news/2025/%D0%B2-%D1%85%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8-%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE-%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B5-%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9-%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B8.html
[20] https://t.me/VGA_Kherson/30356; https://t.me/rosavtotransport/1722
[21] https://crimea dot ria.ru/20250131/iz-kakikh-regionov-mozhno-dobratsya-v-krym-na-avtobuse-1143830286.html
[22] https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-occupation-update-april-24-2025; https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-occupation-update-march-31-2025