Destitute, Some Ukrainians Forced to Accept Russian ‘Assistance’

Former Kherson region residents in dire financial straits are taking advantage of a Russian scheme offering free housing in Crimea, Kyiv Post has learned.

A program set up by the Kremlin in October 2022 provides housing vouchers to Ukrainians in the occupied territories willing to accept Russian passports. The voucher can then be exchanged for a house anywhere in Russia or the occupied areas of Ukraine.

The housing offered is based on the average nationwide housing price. One person is eligible to receive 33 square meters (355 square feet), two – 42 square meters (450 square feet), and for a family of three or more – 18 square meters (194 square feet) for each extra person.

According to a number of people Kyiv Post has spoken to under condition of anonymity, one of the most popular options by far is to live in Crimea.

“We heard about the first cases of buying a home in this way after New Year’s,” a Ukrainian source from Crimea said. “And now my realtor friends say that today these are their main sales.”

Why would Ukrainians agree to such an offer?

Those aware of the phenomenon are keen to stress that the motivation for taking advantage of the scheme is desperation rather than pro-Russian sentiments, and it is the Kremlin itself that is driving people to take such measures through deliberate social engineering.

“The reason is that the Russians simply escalated the humanitarian crisis to the limit,” Ostap, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Center for National Resistance (CNR), told Kyiv Post.

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“And today, without a Russian passport, it’s very difficult for people to survive [in the occupied territories] and they just force you to accept it. 

“They simply squeeze people – do not give pensioners a pension, do not give people money, and increase food prices.”

Those living in the Kherson region have been particularly affected by Russia’s full-scale invasion – much of last year was spent under Russian occupation before Kherson itself and parts of the wider region were liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in November, though much of it remains under enemy control today.

Then, according to Ukrainian authorities and many investigators, on June 6, 2023, Russian forces detonated explosives from within the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, causing massive flooding for miles.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have either fled or now live under Russian occupation. As the war drags on into its 19^th month, many of those who fled abroad or elsewhere in Ukraine simply haven’t found it to be a viable long-term option.

Ukrainian refugees who spoke to Kyiv Post said that they were unable to find jobs, cover monthly expenses, or continue to afford rent in the West. 

And even in Ukraine, adjusting to a life of renting rather than owning homes takes a huge financial toll, so returning home – even to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine – became the only option left.

“Our family evacuated to Poland from occupied Kakhovka,” one refugee who signed up to the housing scheme told Kyiv Post. “But after six months of living there, we had big problems with finances and finding housing. 

“Since we knew that our house had survived, we decided to return. The road was long because we were driving through the Russian Federation, but we had no other way.” 

And faced with living in a region devastated by war and flooding, a free house on the still relatively safer Crimean Peninsula is an attractive proposition for those simply trying to survive.

Another source from Kakhovka said that they know of two families who, despite their pro-Ukrainian position, took Russia’s offer and are now living in Crimea. The families couldn’t afford to live in the European Union, the source said.

How it’s done

To obtain housing, former Kherson region residents must first go to Russia or a Russian-controlled territory and apply for the scheme at one of its government centers with documents, including a Russian passport. The review takes a few months. 

After receiving a housing certificate, they can then look for housing on the real estate market. 

Crimean lawyers and realtors contacted by Kyiv Post said that the procedure for purchasing housing in this way is quite easy.

The seller is fully protected and transfers the housing documents to the new owners after receiving funds from the state. 

The cost of housing is determined by the Russian Ministry of Construction and Housing and the local government service. Usually, the procedure takes from seven to nine days.

“Among my friends, everyone received payment from the state. In fact, this is an unprecedented case of system transparency,” a Crimean source said.

A key question raised by Russia’s housing scheme is: What’s in it for Russia? According to the Ukrainian government, the issuing of Russian passports in the occupied territories is part of the Kremlin’s tactic of illegal annexation of Ukraine’s territories.

The more Russian passport holders there are, the more Russian citizens the Kremlin can falsely claim live in those regions.

Similarly, by attracting desperate Ukrainians to live in Russia and Russian-occupied areas, rather than living in Ukraine or abroad, the Kremlin can bolster its narrative that Ukrainians prefer living under Russian rule. Moscow thereby justifies its repeatedly debunked claims that it has invaded to “liberate oppressed Russian-speakers.”

Not a new tactic

After its invasion of Crimea in 2014, Russia had also implemented a housing program for the people on the occupied peninsula. Families with children were given a flat rate of 450,000 rubles (about $11,665 in 2014) toward buying a home. 

A key difference between the Crimean housing program and the Kherson region one is that under the former the homeowners couldn’t sell their homes until all their children reached the age of 18. Such a stipulation is absent from the Kherson program.

The program is apparently popular enough to have angered Russian-supporting residents of the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, who haven’t been offered the same housing deal, the realtor said.

Some Crimean home sellers are suspicious of the new Kherson refugees. 

One Crimean realtor said that she knew of two cases where those who sold their homes to Kherson refugees said that they later found out the new homeowners had sold the houses and sent the money to the Ukrainian army.