The Russian Federation appropriated more than 13,000 houses and apartments in the occupied territory

Russia “nationalized” at least 13,300 houses and apartments in the territories of Ukraine occupied by its troops.

It is about real estate whose owners fled the war. According to the investigation, housing is essentially confiscated if the owners have not returned home within a month.

The authorities officially appointed by Russia promised to seize housing only from those citizens of Ukraine who left since 2014 and do not intend to return. At the same time, about 80% of all real estate recognized as ownerless is located in recently occupied territories. For example, Mariupol, Melitopol, and Svatove – cities captured by the Russian army in the spring of 2022 – are currently leading in terms of the number of “nationalized” housing.

According to UN data as of January of this year, about 10 million Ukrainians were forced to leave their homes due to full-scale hostilities and still have not returned. More than six million of them went abroad, the rest moved to other regions of Ukraine.