Ukrainians forced to become Russian citizens, US-backed research finds

An employee of a local enterprise Igor, who didn't give his family name, demonstrates a destroyed facility located on the premises of a poultry farm following recent shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the village of Karpaty in the Luhansk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, May 31, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied territory are being forced to assume Russian citizenship or face harsh retaliation, including possible deportation or detention, U.S.-backed research published on Wednesday said.

Yale University researchers said that as part of a plan by Moscow to assert authority over Ukrainians, residents of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are being targeted by a systematic effort to strip them of Ukrainian identity.