Putin Orders Ukrainians in Russia to Legalize Status or Leave by September 10

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a new ultimatum to Ukrainians living in Russia, demanding that they legalize their immigration status or leave the country by September 10, The Moscow Times reported. A presidential decree published on Thursday states that Ukrainian nationals without "legal grounds to stay or reside in Russia" must either obtain Russian citizenship or leave within six months and ten days.

The order primarily targets Ukrainian passport holders from four partially occupied regions—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia—which Russia claims to have annexed in 2022. It also applies to residents of Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014. In recent years, Russian authorities have pressured Ukrainians in these territories to accept Russian citizenship. Putin has previously asserted that the mass issuance of Russian passports in these regions was "virtually completed" last year, according to The Moscow Times.

Ukraine has strongly condemned what it calls Russia's "passportization" policy, denouncing it as "illegal" and a "gross violation" of the country’s sovereignty. Western governments have also criticized Moscow’s actions, while the European Union has decided not to recognize Russian passports issued in the occupied regions as valid travel documents.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine are ongoing. U.S. President Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday that he had a "very good" one-hour phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also held discussions with Putin on Tuesday.

According to TASS Russian News Agency, ceasefire negotiations are set to begin in Jeddah on Sunday, with the U.S. expecting Ukraine to support agreements reached during Trump’s recent phone conversation with Putin. Trump’s Special Envoy, Steven Witkoff, stated in an interview with Fox News that he had met with Putin twice—once for nearly three and a half hours and a second time for about four hours.

Witkoff described the discussions as "compelling" and said progress had been made, particularly in the second meeting, where both sides narrowed key issues. He highlighted that one of the primary topics was a ceasefire agreement related to energy infrastructure, something both sides have been trying to negotiate for some time.