Ukrainian government announces that it will consider Russian passports issued to Donbas residents invalid

Ukraine’s federal ministers have announced that their government will reject the legality of Russian passports issued to residents of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. The announcement came as passport offices began to act on an order issued by Russian president Vladimir Putin that granted an expedited citizenship process to those living in both regions.

Specifically, the Ukrainian government will not recognize passports issued in the Russian village of Pokrovskoye and the city of Novoshakhtinsk after April 24, the date Putin’s order was signed. That list of cities may be expanded in the future should additional passport offices begin processing applications from Ukraine’s Donbas region.

Ukrainian authorities plan to ask other countries not to recognize Russian passports issued to Donbas residents either. They also intend to create a list of Russian officials responsible for putting the new expedited citizenship process for that region into effect with an eye toward introducing individual sanctions.