Natalya Nedyelko is a multimedia producer in Kyiv with RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
Rights groups say Moscow is seeking to erase the Ukrainian identity and Russify the parts of Ukraine it holds. The Kremlin is set to take a step in that direction come September: Under a draft directive, the study of Ukrainian is to be removed from the curriculum at schools under Russian control.
Kyiv charges that Moscow has formed a “great occupation corps” of professionals and skilled and unskilled labor from Russia to put down roots in the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhya – and to ensure they remain Russian.
