Russian authorities have given owners of land and real estate in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine until July 1, 2026 to claim ownership of any property originally registered under Ukrainian law.
But to re-register their property in the Russian land registry, owners must appear in person and present a Russian passport as proof of their identity – this is impossible for many Ukrainians.
Lyudmila (name changed) said, “It breaks my heart. I lived there my whole life. My business was bombed. I had to leave everything I loved. I was hoping they would at least let me keep my apartment.”
In 2022, she fled the Zaporizhia region to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, to escape Russian occupation. But he continued to pay his home’s utility bills. “At first, a neighbor kept an eye on the apartment, and then my ex-husband. Then I decided that from New Year’s Day I would stop paying the bills. I don’t know if I was right to pay in the first place,” Lyudmila told DW. “I’m waiting for my city to be free.”
Until then, she does not intend to go home to re-register her apartment with the occupying authorities. “First of all, I don’t want to see the occupiers because I was there and I know what these people are like. And I don’t want to waste years of my life and be stressed. Secondly, I don’t even know if they will let me in or not.”
Vacant buildings declared ‘ownerless’
Russian occupiers began confiscating homes of Ukrainians in the occupied territories in 2014. Seven years later, in 2021, authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic began classifying abandoned residential properties as “ownerless”. These can now be sold or confiscated by the “courts”.
In 2024, the foreclosure authorities went a step further and defined them as “ownerless” apartments or buildings that have been vacant for more than a year, for which no utility bills have been paid, and whose owners do not appear in Russian land registries. He justified the decision by saying that the safety of the property itself was at risk. At the end of 2025, this approach was legalized at the federal level in Russia. “Ownerless” apartments can now be transferred to Russian citizens.
It is almost impossible to determine how many apartments have already been taken over by the Russian authorities in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Last August, the head of Russia’s Federal Service for State Registration, Oleg Skufinsky, announced that there were about 550,000 “ownerless” properties in the occupied Ukrainian territories; The Ukrainian-occupied city of Mariupol alone has 13,000 housing units. The list of these properties is available online.
Property owners need Russian passport
An “ownerless” property can be removed from these lists only if it has been re-registered in the Russian Land Registry. Although Russian law does not require property owners to have Russian citizenship to re-register property, a source with contacts in Donetsk told DW that it was practically impossible to do so without a Russian passport.
As well as the announcement that real estate registered under Ukrainian law will be considered invalid after July 1, 2026, Russian authorities have made the process of re-registering more difficult. While previously it was possible to appoint another person to re-register a property through a power of attorney at Russian consulates abroad, owners now have to appear in person to transfer the property to someone else.
But Ukrainian human rights activists have warned Ukrainians against traveling to Russian-occupied territories. “There are significant risks involved,” said Onisia Siniuk of the Kyiv-based ZMINA human rights center. “With a Ukrainian passport, you can only enter through the border checkpoint at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. Russian authorities do so-called ‘filtration’ there. They can take issue with anything, anyone’s reply, or anything on a smartphone. It’s unpredictable.”
Siniuk said that in the best case scenario, someone could be banned from entering but in the worst case scenario, a person could be arrested. He added, “With unknown consequences.”
He also explained that Ukrainians who were allowed to enter the country would have to apply for Russian passports so they could re-register their property. “There are risks in that too,” she said – for example, “military service in the Russian army.”
Violation of Ukrainian and international law
Anatoly Kolesnikov is a lawyer with the Ukrainian relief foundation East SOS, which provides aid primarily to the civilian population in eastern Ukraine. He said that the Ukrainian government does not see it as cooperation if Ukrainians apply for Russian passports to protect their lives and property, as well as their families.
But for that, Russia is trying to turn Ukrainians into Russian citizens. Furthermore, he believes the goal is to identify individuals who are not loyal to Russia so that their assets can be confiscated. “This is a clear violation of Ukrainian and international law,” he said.
Other experts told DW that their advice for property owners in occupied Ukrainian territories was to register with the international register of damages for Ukraine set up by the Council of Europe in May 2023. This would be “the first step toward a mechanism that will ensure justice and compensation for Ukraine and its people,” even though it is not yet clear what compensation might consist of and when it would be paid.
A number of other compensation programs have now been established in Ukraine for owners of real estate in the occupied territories. eVidnovlennya is a state program that provides financial compensation to citizens whose homes have been damaged or destroyed, and also to internally displaced persons. Those who were involved in combat operations or were disabled in battle are eligible for a separate additional payment.
“I never expected any help from the government,” said Lyudmila, from the Zaporizhia region, though she added that she planned to report her losses to Ukraine’s loss register. “I just work and rely on my strength as well as my daughter, who always helps me.”
This article was originally written in Ukrainian.