Russia Occupied and Russified Donbas, Then Mobilized Its People. New Data Reveals the Cost

Russia Occupied and Russified Donbas, Then Mobilized Its People. New Data Reveals the Cost

Russia’s occupation of eastern Ukraine did not stop at taking territory. Moscow absorbed local armed formations, imposed Russian military structures, mobilized residents of occupied Donetsk, and turned them into manpower for the same war that had seized their homes. Two Russian combined-arms armies responsible for some of Moscow’s heaviest fighting in eastern Ukraine generated 107,149 combat-related hospitalizations in 2025, according to an anal…