Russia plans to relocate around 114,000 of its citizens to the temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine. This includes areas in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, according to the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
These plans do not foresee improvements in living conditions for the local Ukrainian population, indicating that the priority is settlement policy rather than the reconstruction of territories.
Exclusion of destroyed Ukrainian cities from reconstruction planning
The documents largely omit cities that suffered severe destruction during the war and where millions of Ukrainians lived before the invasion. Among them are Avdiivka, Bakhmut, Marinka, Vuhledar, Pопасна, and Kurakhove.
These cities are either not included in development plans at all or are mentioned without concrete reconstruction timelines, effectively pushing them out of any real rebuilding agenda.
Institutional planning of occupation infrastructure and limited transparency
The documents are being developed by Vnesheconombank (VEB.RF) and the Unified Institute of Spatial Planning of Russia. The planning includes 15 master plans and 10 territorial development projects for the occupied regions of Ukraine.
However, only partial materials are made public, while full documents remain inaccessible.
Settlement policies and economic incentives for Russian citizens
According to Petro Andriushchenko, head of the Center for Occupation Studies, the main hubs for Russian settlers are Mariupol and Luhansk. Large-scale housing construction is being actively developed there, with mortgage programs more favorable than those in Russia itself, stimulating migration flows.
Mariupol, which is estimated to have been 90% destroyed, remains one of the key centers of such settlement activity.
Industrial restructuring and limited implementation of infrastructure projects
The Russian side also declares plans to create industrial and agricultural clusters, including engineering, extractive, and processing industries.
However, experts emphasize that a significant portion of these plans is declarative. Similar initiatives are repeatedly announced but rarely implemented.
As an example, the Mariupol — Berdiansk — Melitopol — Crimea railway project is cited, which has not been realized despite repeated announcements since 2023.
