“They Moved Into My Home”: How Russians Are Confiscating Homes en Masse in Ukraine - Le Figaro

EXCLUSIVE – Moscow has seized tens of thousands of properties belonging to Ukrainians who fled the occupation. Nearly 25,000 properties in the four regions annexed by Russia have been identified by Le Figaro, which also met with victims of this large-scale plundering.

We are at 137 Hetmanska Street in Melitopol, in the Zaporizhzhia region.

The city has been occupied by the Russians since February 25, 2022, the day after the large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, the street has reverted to the name it had before Ukraine's 2016 decommunization laws: Lenin Street.

In this nine-story building with six entrances, the Russians want to confiscate ,this apartment,. On their website, they published an expropriation notice on May 24, 2024.

It is not the only one. ,78 other apartments, are expected to suffer the same fate.

In this image, which shows only a small part of the city, ,at least 1,080 apartments or houses, are affected...

,And more than 3,000 homes, in the city of Melitopol alone.

,5,000, in the Zaporizhzhia region, which is not even completely occupied...

In total, Le Figaro has identified at least ,25,000 properties, seized or about to be seized ,throughout Russian-occupied Ukraine,.

In Mariupol, the martyred city on the shores of the Sea of Azov, where 26,000 people died during the Russian siege in the spring of 2022, expropriations have reached unprecedented levels. Le Figaro has identified ,at least 13,000 homes,, mainly apartments, confiscated by Russia, which wants to turn this seaside town into a showcase for the occupied territories.

Some localities ,in the occupied territories, are more coveted than others...

Located a stone's throw from ,the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,, Enerhodar, under Russian occupation since 2022, has become a ghost town. “The majority of its original inhabitants have fled and ,their homes, are being repossessed,” explains Reuters. Russians from sometimes distant regions have moved in to take their place.

,Apartments, located on the main thoroughfares of the city center quickly became targets of Russian looting. This is despite their relative proximity to the front line.

Sometimes entire neighborhoods are listed in the official documents of the occupying authorities. In the mining town of Bryanka (Luhansk region), which has become a logistics hub for the Russian army near the front line, the authorities want to confiscate ,400 apartments, in this complex of Soviet buildings.

The climate of southern Ukraine also seems to play an attractive role. In the small seaside resort of Kyrylivka, on the shores of the Sea of Azov, ,at least 70 properties have been looted,. In addition to housing, hotels, restaurants, and sanatoriums have also been confiscated, according to several local sources.

NOTES * For security reasons, first names have been changed.