Zelensky signs decree on Russian territories ‘historically inhabited by Ukrainians,’ introduces bill on multiple citizenship

On January 22, Ukrainian Unity Day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he had signed a decree “on the territories of the Russian Federation historically inhabited by Ukrainians.”

Zelensky said that Ukrainian authorities must do everything possible for “collective rights and freedoms, the truth about Ukrainians, the truth about us, and the truth about our history.”

The exact contents of the decree are unknown as the document has not been published. The Bell noted that the Ukrainian People’s Republic, which existed from 1917 to the early 1920s, laid claim to territory that is a part of what is now Russia’s Krasnodar Krai.

Zelensky also introduced a bill to Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, which would allow for multiple citizenship. Ukraine’s laws do not currently permit multiple citizenship, though Forbes Ukraine noted that due to a lack of state control, this area effectively operates in a “gray zone.”

The president said the bill would “enable all ethnic Ukrainians and their descendants from different countries around the world to have our citizenship.” “Of course, excluding citizens of the aggressor country,” he added. According to Zelensky, if the legislation is passed, both Ukrainians who “over the years have been forced to leave their homeland” and foreign volunteers fighting for Ukraine will be eligible for Ukrainian citizenship.