Ukraine Condemns Russian Move to Erase Borders With Occupied Areas

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned Russia's decision to remove border controls between Russian regions and occupied Ukrainian territories. This move includes border zones in the Rostov and Voronezh regions, as well as the administrative boundary between Crimea and the Kherson region. The foreign ministry stated that this policy is an attempt to give the impression that the occupied territories have become an integral part of Russia.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that relocating border controls to the external boundaries of the occupied areas is not a standard cessation of border control, but rather a simulated integration of these territories into Russia. They stressed that military occupation does not establish sovereignty and that annexation attempts do not generate territorial rights.

The ministry noted that Russia can move control points, rewrite documents, and redraw maps, but this does not make the occupied Ukrainian land part of Russia. They stressed that the internationally recognized state border of Ukraine will not shift by a single meter. This decision, reportedly made by the Russian Federal Security Service, continues Moscow's policy of administrative appropriation of occupied Ukrainian territory.

Russia had begun to formalize the occupied Ukrainian territories as part of its own state even before the full-scale invasion, recognizing the "independence" of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in February 2022 and launching a full-scale invasion three days later.