Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing the deportation of Ukrainians from the occupied territories who refuse to accept Russian citizenship, Russian state media reported on Thursday, the Kyiv Independent writes.

According to the decree, Ukrainians from the occupied territories who decide to retain Ukrainian citizenship may be deported after July 1, 2024.

According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the illegal deportation of the local population is considered a war crime.

On April 26, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Malyar reported that Russia initiated the large-scale relocation of Russian citizens to the occupied territories of Ukraine, continuing to deport the local population.

Local Ukrainians are forcibly deported “under various pretexts” to Russia, especially those suspected of “pro-Ukrainian positions,” Malyar writes.

“In this way, the enemy is trying to destroy Ukrainian statehood and the national identity of society in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” the deputy defense minister added.

Thousands of Ukrainian children have also been deported since the beginning of Russia’s total war.

The Ministry of Reintegration reported on March 29 that more than 19,000 Ukrainian children were forcibly deported to Russia.

In addition, on April 12, the Center of National Resistance reported that more than 100,000 Ukrainian children from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were taken to Russia under the pretext of “treatment.”