On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, has signed an order fast-tracking the process of Russian citizenship for the people of Kherson, a city in the south of Ukraine, and Zaporizhzhia, a city on the Dnieper River in southeastern Ukraine, largely seized by his troops, while Russian legislators approved a measure to reinforce the stretched Putin’s military machine.

Russian President’s order applying to the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson could permit Moscow to fortify its grip on territory that lies between the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and Eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia separatist forces occupy some of the region.

In addition, the Armed Forces of Russia is engaged in an intense fight for the Donbass, a cultural, and economic region in southeastern Ukraine. And in an indication that the Putin-led military attempting to strengthen its stretched army, policymakers of Russia decided to scrap the age limit of forty years for people willingly signing their foremost military contracts.

Putin’s order marks another step towards ‘Russianization’ of two southern Ukrainian regions, where the Kremlin’s fight enabled it to build an unceasing wider land connection between Crimea and Russia. The government in Kyiv said that the plan was a violation of the “law of nations” and blamed Moscow for criminal conduct.

‘War of Aggression’

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement released Wednesday, the unlawful plan of issuing Russian passports is a blatant violation of Ukraine’s ‘territorial ‘oneness,’ and core fundamental principles of international humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the “laws of armed conflict.”

Furthermore, Russian President Vladimir’s action extends an arrangement accessible to the people of Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republic – controlled by Moscow-supported separatist forces – where the Kremlin has issued nearly 0.8M passports in the last three years. And Russia has made the Russian citizenship and passport acquiring process so simple that it isn’t mandatory for applicants to have resided in Russia. Plus, there is no need even to pass a Russian Language Proficiency Test and show proof of enough funds.

Kherson, an crucial port on the Black Sea and on the Dnieper River, is under control of Moscow forces, while Zaporizhzhia is somewhat controlled by the Kremlin. Therefore, authorities in Kherson introduced on May 23 Russian ‘Rouble’ as the official currency in conjunction with the national currency of Ukraine – Hryvnia. Additionally, on May 25, Moscow-installed officials proclaimed a similar move in some areas of the Zaporizhzhian region.

On the other hand, the Kyiv administration has vowed that it will regain all of its captured territories. In the meantime, violent battles are being fought in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has concentrated on its so-called ‘special military operation.’ It has been over three months since Russia’s Putin ordered the large-scale incursion of its neighboring country in late February to deNazify Ukraine. The European allies of Ukraine say Russia’s brutal incursion is a ‘’war of aggression.’

Read Also: Moscow Escalates Attacks on Ukraine’s Donbass City