The authorities in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia require homeowners to re-register them in accordance with Russian law. Many Ukrainians have fled there and risk losing their property.
Russia requires that real estate in the occupied Ukrainian territories be re-registered in accordance with Russian law by July 1, 2026. Moreover, "re-registration" can only be carried out in person at the place where the home is located and with a passport of the Russian Federation. A significant part of Ukrainians cannot practically fulfill these requirements.
The path home goes through "filtration"
"My soul hurts. We built all our lives. My business, which was bombed, remained there. Both the land and the houses. Everything I love remained there. There was hope that at least they wouldn't touch the apartment. And now a new blow", sadly stated to DV a resident of Zaporizhzhia region Lyudmila (the woman's name has been changed - ed. note), who moved to Kiev in 2022 due to the occupation of the city.
She does not plan to go home specifically for the "re-registration" of the apartment. "First, I don't want to see the occupiers, because I lived there and I know what kind of people they are. Secondly, I don't know if they will let me in at all."
Lyudmila recalls the case of an acquaintance of hers who wanted to go to Gorlovka in the Donetsk region to re-register her apartment, but at "Sheremetyevo" airport she was stopped – without giving any reason. "Maybe they found something pro-Ukrainian on her phone, after all, she has been living in Kiev for a long time, her children are here", Lyudmila muses.
Igor (his name has also been changed – ed. note) left Mariupol, which was taken over by the Russians, and went abroad. From his acquaintance, who returned to the occupied territories precisely to re-register her apartment, he knows that the Russian authorities are conducting a kind of "filtration". "They check the phone, social networks, everything. If you have never liked Ukrainians, they might let you in. "I've been giving a lot of likes, so I don't even want to try to travel, because they'll lock me up somewhere," he says.
Igor bought an apartment in Mariupol shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but he never managed to live in it.
Russia legalizes the seizure of Ukrainians' property
The Russian occupiers began seizing housing from Ukrainians in the occupied regions after 2014, but this became a systematic practice later - when in 2021 the occupation administration of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" (DPR) introduced the concept of "ownerless" property. According to the plan of the occupiers, it can be disposed of or it can be taken away "through legal means".
Clear criteria for "homelessness" were not formulated. That is why many Ukrainians who left the occupied territories, in order not to give grounds for the housing to be recognized as "homeless", pay utility bills and ask acquaintances to periodically visit the housing.
Since 2024, the occupation authorities in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions consider non-payment of utility bills for more than a year to be "homelessness", as well as the unregistered right of ownership in the Russian real estate register. If a residential premises is not used, it is also considered to be ownerless property, as this creates a "threat to its safety".
At the end of 2025, Russia legalized this at the federal level, providing for the possibility of transferring such "ownerless" housing to Russian citizens.
At the moment, it is difficult to calculate how many housing units the Russian occupiers can appropriate in this way. In August 2025, the head of "Rosreestr" (the Russian real estate registry – ed. note) Oleg Skufinsky stated that there are about 550 thousand "ownerless" facilities in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Currently, in Mariupol alone, almost 13,000 homes are included in the lists of such properties that the occupation authorities publish on their websites.
Property can be excluded from these lists only on condition that it is re-registered with "Rosreestr". Formally, Russian legislation does not require Russian citizenship for this. However, according to a source of the State Duma with contacts in the occupation administration of Donetsk, in practice re-registration is impossible without a Russian passport.
At the same time, the Russian Federation has limited the period for recognizing Ukrainian real estate documents - they are accepted only until July 1, 2026. In parallel, the procedure itself has been complicated: it is no longer possible to authorize a third party at any of the Russian consulates abroad: in practice, the procedure requires interested parties to be present in person, i.e. to travel to the occupied territories.
Returning to the occupied territories poses risks
Human rights activists, with whom DW spoke, warn against traveling to the occupied territories. "There are serious risks. With a Ukrainian passport, you can only enter through the border crossing at "Sheremetyevo" airport, where representatives of the Russian Federation carry out the so-called "filtration". They may not like something - in the answers or on the phone. It is impossible to predict. "At best, an entry ban will be imposed, and at worst, detention with unknown consequences," warns Onisiya Sinyuk, head of the analytical department of the ZMINA Human Rights Center.
In addition, all these Ukrainians will have to obtain a Russian passport in order to be able to "re-register" their property. This also carries risks, says the human rights activist: "For example, it carries the risk of military service in the Russian army."
According to Anatoly Kolesnikov, senior lawyer of the "Shíd SOS" charity fund, by re-registering property, Russia wants to force Ukrainian citizens to obtain a Russian passport, respectively, to identify those disloyal to the Russian regime and confiscate their property. He emphasizes that such actions contradict Ukrainian and international law. "For example, the Hague Convention of 1907 prohibits the confiscation of private property and guarantees its inviolability. The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War also prohibits the mass seizure of property that is not related to military necessity," the lawyer explains.