Everyday life in the occupied territories of Ukraine has its own characteristics and differs from the realities in the government-controlled lands. Different administrative rules apply here, a different currency is used, and the legislative field has changed. The authorities of the Russian Federation are introducing their education, health care and social security systems. From children’s education to access to medicine, from paperwork to transportation options, daily life here is changed and complicated. How is everyday life organized, what problems do Ukrainians face?
Life under control
After the establishment of the occupation administrations, Ukrainians living in the temporarily occupied territories (TOTs) found themselves under constant surveillance. Checks at roadblocks, searches, denunciations – all this has become everyday. Disappearances of people occur regularly: they were taken, taken “to the basement” – and there are no more traces. Even an ordinary comment on social networks or a refusal to take a Russian passport can be the reason. Documents have become another tool of control. Without a Russian passport, it is impossible to receive medical assistance, issue payments or simply work officially. People are faced with a choice: either you accept the new “realities” or you remain a disenfranchised stranger in your own home.
After the capture of the territories, the business is either closed or comes under the control of the occupying structures. Ukrainian banks do not work, the hryvnia is replaced by the ruble, and products and essential goods are more expensive than in the territory controlled by Ukraine, but the Russian Federation pays pensions to Ukrainians. Medical care has also become a problem – there is a lack of doctors and medicines, and treatment in hospitals increasingly resembles a lottery. Pregnant women, people with chronic diseases or those who need urgent surgery are often in mortal danger.
Due to the isolation and blocking of Ukrainian media, local residents receive information only from propaganda sources. The absence of an alternative point of view distorts the perception of reality, and the fear of punishment keeps silent even those who understand what is really happening.
Therefore, civilians are forced to either adapt or, risking their own lives, look for ways to evacuate to the territory controlled by Ukraine. However, it is not so easy to leave the temporarily occupied territory. There are no Ukrainian checkpoints, the only way is through the Russian Federation. The road is long, dangerous, and the possibility of leaving often depends on a bribe or the “correct” passport.
Children under occupation
Since the beginning of the Great War, more than 104,875 children have been born in the occupied territories of Ukraine. This is not just a number, but the stories of small lives that, despite everything, came into this world in conditions of war, fear and uncertainty. However, during the war, only 9,820 of them received Ukrainian documents. The real problem, as these figures convincingly show, is that the majority of children born in the temporarily occupied territories do not have access to legalization of their rights. But the most dangerous is the forced removal of children to the territory of Russia or the so-called “evacuation”. Their future fate is unknown, because some of them are transferred to Russian families, their documents are changed, and it becomes almost impossible to return home.
For data “Children of War” platform, as of today, the Russian Federation has deported at least 19,546 Ukrainian children, although total estimates may reach 16,000-300,000. These figures take into account both officially confirmed cases and alleged victims of forced removal. Deportation of children began as early as 2014, but increased significantly with the start of a full-scale invasion in 2022. Of these children, it was possible to return only 388, in the future the number seems to have frozen and this emphasizes the scale of the problem and the complexity of its solution.
As of November 2024, 15 more children were rescued from the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, as informs Mykola Kuleba, founder of the “Save Ukraine” charitable organization. In general, the organization “Bring Kids Back UA” was able to save 538 children, returning them to the territory of Ukraine.
Russia is systematically changing data on children — their names, surnames, and even citizenship — in an effort to fully assimilate them. Such actions are classified as a crime of genocide aimed at the destruction of Ukrainian identity. At the same time, the return of even one child is already a small victory, because each rescued person is a symbol of resistance to this terrible crime.
Ukrainian and international organizations continue to work on the identification and return of children. The problem remains global, because without increased international support it will be difficult to stop this systematic kidnapping. The Children of War platform and other initiatives are key tools in the fight for the rights of deported children. Experts also note that the fact of not only deportation, but also re-education and militarization of children was established.
One of the most difficult problems facing Ukrainians is education. According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, there are currently about 600,000 children in the temporarily occupied territories. Of them, only 7% can study within the framework of the Ukrainian education system. By data of local education authorities as of 2024, the Ukrainian education system covers 44,241 students of secondary schools who are in the temporarily occupied territories, which is approximately 7.4%. At the same time, there is a tendency to decrease the number of education seekers who live in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) and study in general secondary education institutions. In particular, the number of students who entered the first grades in Donetsk region decreased by 39% compared to the 2021/2022 and 2023/2024 academic years, in Zaporizhzhya – by 48%, in Luhansk – by 62%, and in Kherson – by 42%.
At the same time, the authorities of the Russian Federation not only limit access to Ukrainian education, but also actively introduce their educational standards, forcing children to study according to a different program. This causes serious problems for students who want to maintain a connection with their home country. For many of them, the only way to get a Ukrainian education is to study online. However, this process is extremely difficult, because children are forced to focus on two educational systems at the same time, which leads to heavy workloads. One week of study can take more than 50 hours, which is extremely exhausting for students. And it is also very dangerous. Parents take great risks and hide the fact that their children are studying in Ukrainian schools, because they can become victims of denunciation, which has already become a common phenomenon in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT).
In addition, the Russian Federation is trying in every possible way to influence the national identity of Ukrainian children, denying their origin and questioning the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state. Children are sent to local schools, where education is conducted exclusively in Russian using other textbooks, and also with the involvement of a wide range of propaganda materials.
According to experts, in order to militarize Ukrainian children, meetings with military units and youth military organizations were organized. They are taught how to handle weapons and are told how to serve honorably and well in the Russian army. At the same time, children are constantly subjected to psychological pressure when they are asked provocative and traumatic questions about their experience of living in the occupied territories.
No less difficult is the lack of physical opportunity for young people at TOT to get an education at Ukrainian universities. Due to the occupation, many higher education institutions located in the occupied territories are under the control of the Russian Federation. It is extremely difficult to travel to controlled territory for enrollment or training due to hostilities, blockades, checkpoints and other restrictions.
To help such children and youth, Ukraine launched a network of educational centers that facilitate admission to Ukrainian higher education institutions. In 2023, 1,608 entrants were recruited through these centers, and in 2024, the number of such persons increased to more than 11,000. This demonstrates the efforts of the state not only to preserve the educational process, but also to support the future generation, which, despite the circumstances, strives to receive a Ukrainian education.
At the same time, recently the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine approved an important decision regarding diplomas obtained in the temporarily occupied territories. According to the new rules, diplomas obtained in the occupied regions will not be recognized in Ukraine. This decision concerns specialties that do not meet state education standards due to the lack of proper control over the quality of the educational process by the Ukrainian authorities. Among the specialties whose diplomas will not be recognized are qualifications in important fields such as medicine, jurisprudence and pedagogy. And this means that graduates who received education in these fields in the occupied territories will not be able to immediately use their diplomas for employment or further education in Ukraine.
However, for those who already have diplomas from such educational institutions, the possibility of additional attestation or re-attestation is provided to confirm their qualifications in accordance with Ukrainian standards. This mechanism will allow some graduates to go through the procedure of confirming their knowledge and skills in order to get their diplomas recognized in Ukraine.
The Ministry of Education and Science has also prepared a draft of the procedure for recognizing the results of training in the temporarily occupied territories, which has already been sent to the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration. Now this document is at the finalization stage, and it will be an important step in the formation of a system that will take into account the realities of the occupation, while maintaining the standards of the quality of education in Ukraine.
The latest decisions of the Ministry of Education and Culture are causing mixed reactions among the public, because many people who studied under occupation will now have to go through additional procedures to make their diplomas valid in Ukraine. However, according to representatives of the ministry, this is a necessary step to protect the quality of education in the country and prevent the influence of unauthorized educational standards on the professional level of specialists.
At the same time, there is a lack of coordinated system support for graduate students who move from temporarily occupied territories. This is manifested in the lack of coordination between various institutions, the lack of assistance mechanisms in solving housing issues, and the lack of ways to integrate scientists from the temporarily occupied territories (TOTs) into the scientific communities in the controlled territories. The issue of financing has already become a key problem, because making payments for training with TOT is complicated by restrictions in banking operations and lack of access to Ukrainian financial institutions.
Consequently, life under occupation for Ukrainians turned into a daily balancing act between fear and survival. For Russian troops, people have become a resource for total control, and any attempt at resistance or even independence is quickly punished here. Passport blackmail, kidnapping, disappearance, pressure on business, censorship, Russification are not elements of random chaos, but a well-thought-out system. The majority of Ukrainians in the TOT live in anticipation of a return to normal civilized life and, despite all the difficulties, find ways to help each other, maintain contact with relatives in the controlled territory and wait for peace. Because even in the conditions of occupation, they did not lose the main thing – faith in the happy future of their country.
