The situation in the temporarily occupied areas of Kherson has taken an increasingly alarming turn as Russian forces intensify efforts to forcibly conscript Ukrainians into their military ranks. According to the resistance movement Yellow Ribbon, which relayed information from activists on the ground, occupation authorities have adopted a targeted and predatory strategy that focuses on the most vulnerable segments of the population. Rather than attempting broad mobilization, Russian forces are reportedly searching specifically for orphans, individuals living alone, and children whose parents have disabilities or severe health conditions. These groups are singled out precisely because they lack family members or support networks capable of defending them or resisting the forced recruitment process.

Reports indicate that in many occupied villages, Russian soldiers arrive with clear lists or directives and deliberately choose people who are already facing hardship or isolation. The reasoning behind this approach appears both strategic and deeply cynical: individuals without advocates are less likely to cause complications, and their potential deaths in combat can be more easily concealed or dismissed. This pattern also includes young men whose parents are gravely ill, often hospitalized with cancer or other serious medical conditions, making them especially vulnerable to coercion.

The Yellow Ribbon movement emphasizes that forcing civilians from occupied territories to fight against their own country constitutes a severe violation of international law and a stark example of the broader abuses carried out by the Russian leadership. Activists stress that the only definitive end to these practices will come with the complete liberation of occupied Ukrainian territories.

Ukrinform has previously reported that a large-scale and unprecedented conscription campaign is expected across all occupied regions in the near future. These developments have already had tragic consequences. In Kherson’s occupied territories, at least two veterans of the Anti-Terrorist Operation have died by suicide after being pressured by Russian forces to sign contracts to serve in the army of the occupying state, highlighting the immense psychological strain and desperation caused by these coercive recruitment tactics.

 The Yellow Ribbon movement has reported that Russian forces and Russian-installed authorities in the temporarily occupied territories are targeting orphans, single people, and children of parents with disabilities for mobilization as they are ‘least likely to be missed’.

The involvement of people in temporarily occupied territories (TOT) with the occupying military forces against their own people is a great crime of the Russian leadership. The only thing that will stop them is the de-occupation of Ukrainian territory.

As reported by Ukrinform, an unprecedented draft is expected in the spring in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

In the TOT of Kherson region, at least two participants of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) have committed suicide after being forced by the occupiers to sign a contract for service in the Russian army.

Más información en Ukrinform