According to the US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the measures, introduced by the Russian occupation regime in the region, are part of the Kremlin’s efforts to incorporate parts of the region into Russia. According to the ISW, the occupation government calls the Kharkiv region an “indispensable part of Russia”.
The measures “reinforce ISW’s earlier assessment that the Kremlin has greater territorial objectives than occupying the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and even southern Ukraine,” the think tank wrote in a report.
The strategy is reminiscent of what the Russian occupation regime has done in other parts of Ukraine that Russia has taken control of.
Large parts of the Kharkiv region are still under Ukrainian control, including the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest, which has been the scene of fierce fighting since the beginning of the war.