From Saturday, Russia will begin issuing Russian passports in parts of the Zaporegye region that are under the control of Russian forces.
Vladimir Rogov said that those who have passports will be considered Russian citizens in every sense of the word.
He added that more than 70,000 people have applied in the region.
Over the past three years, more than 800,000 people in the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine have obtained Russian citizenship through a simplified procedure, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
The Russian agency cites the Russian Interior Ministry that only 1% of applications submitted by residents of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics were rejected.
In 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree facilitating the issuance of passports to residents of Donbass.
Passports will also be issued in areas occupied by Russian troops since the start of the war last February. The Russian ruble will be introduced as a payment method.
The Ukrainian authorities accuse the occupying forces of forcing citizens to obtain Russian citizenship and fear the annexation of the occupied territories.
Meanwhile, Kyiv estimates that about 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in late February, presidential adviser Alexei Aristovich said.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine provided detailed information on the number of dead soldiers on either side.
