Why Putin is now forcing Ukrainians to fight against their own compatriots

On September 30 Moscow announced the annexation of Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson Oblasts of Ukraine. According to the official line of Moscow propaganda, the four regions have become part of Russia after referendums supported by an overwhelming majority of the local population. Normality is finally dawning for the people there, a new period of peace under Moscow's protection, in freedom and in the Russian welfare state. The referendums were fake, that was clear to everyone in the occupied territories.

The inhabitants of the occupied south-east of Ukraine are now finding out that the promises of an aggressor state that reduced the population centers of the occupied territories like Mariupol to rubble are worthless. Less than three weeks later, instead of Russian normality with a nominal rule of law, they went into martial law. Vladimir Putin proclaimed this on Wednesday during a meeting of the Russian Security Council.

The Russian attempt at annexation was followed by an unprecedentedly successful Ukrainian offensive in the east. For days, Russian occupation authorities and the army leadership have been warning of an upcoming Ukrainian offensive in Cherson in the south. Now it serves as a pretext for the total disenfranchisement of the people in the occupied territories.

They also lived under an occupying power before. Especially in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which have been under Russian control since 2014, they are used to Russian despotism. But now it is being quasi-legalized and extended to the entire territory newly "annexed" by Russia. As is so often the case, Putin wants to maintain the appearance of legality in his policies.

Now the residents of Kherson, looking forward to the advance of the Ukrainian army, may have to fight against their own compatriots. In the occupied territories, the "territorial defense" is being built up, which is to be borne by ordinary citizens. According to Ukrainian exile officials, the occupation authorities in Kherson are already deploying a battalion of local residents.

At the same time, residents may be "temporarily relocated to safe areas". The state of war allows the occupation authorities to completely seal off the occupied territories so that no one is allowed to enter or leave the country.

All adult residents can now be called upon to fight Kiev's troops, at least indirectly. They may be called upon to "work for defense needs" and then have to "liquidate the consequences of enemy use of weapons" or rebuild damaged or destroyed "objects", including "military objects".

Those arrested by the military may be held without charge for up to 30 days. Private property is only valid to a limited extent, it may be confiscated "for defense purposes" with subsequent compensation. A curfew can be imposed, all mass events banned – and foreign citizens, in this case Ukrainians, can be detained.

From Kyiv it was said that the state of war changes nothing. That said Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the Presidential Administration of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It is a "pseudo-legalization of expropriation of Ukrainians' property". National Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said the martial law was a "preparation for the mass deportation of the Ukrainian population" to the Russian provinces in order to change the "ethnic composition" of the occupied territories.

Russia is already carrying out an alleged evacuation of the area around Cherson. According to the head of the occupation authorities Vladimir Saldo, up to 40 percent of the residents of Cherson have already left the area. The Russian government promises them free housing in any region of Russia. Very few Ukrainians from the occupied territories are likely to believe such promises from Russia. Russian human rights activists warn that the partial state of war will be like "partial mobilization" - in the end there is a risk of it spreading to the whole country.