Kremlin-installed authorities in Zaporizhzhia plan to deny medical care to residents without Russian passports

The Russian-appointed authorities in the annexed part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region say they are planning to deny medical care to residents without Russian passports starting in 2024, reported Yevgeny Balitsky, the Kremlin-installed head of the region, on the Russia-24 news channel.

Balitsky says that some residents of the Russian-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region are holding off on obtaining Russian citizenship.

“Until the New Year, we’re not in a rush. After the New Year, we’ll take more severe measures in order for only citizens of the Russian Federation to reside on our territory. […] If a person with a Ukrainian passport is still receiving medical care before the New Year, they will no longer receive it after [the start of the New Year],” he said, as cited by Russian state news agency TASS.

Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk was quoted by TASS as saying that about 83 percent of residents living in the self-proclaimed “DNR,” “LNR,” and the occupied parts of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, applied for a Russian passport.