The occupied Kherson region and Crimea have become less free than North Korea

<span><span><span><span><span><span>For the second year in a row, Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories have received the lowest freedom rating in the world according to Freedom House. They ranked below North Korea, South Sudan, and Gaza.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>This is stated in a report by Freedom House.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>Specifically, Crimea</span></span></span></span></span></span>and significant portions of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions received a score of −1 out of 100 on the freedom index in 2026. All key categories of political rights and civil liberties were rated at 0 points (out of a maximum of 4), with the exception of one category regarding personal social freedoms (1/4).

<span><span><span><span><span><span>According to human rights activists and the UN, this is due to systematic repression by the occupiers, forced passport issuance, deportations, and the adoption of at least 16 discriminatory laws.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

The invaders are deliberately transforming the ethnic composition and identity of the occupied regions. In educational institutions, students are forced to learn distorted Kremlin historical narratives, while any expressions of Ukrainian identity or use of the native language are met with harsh repression under the pretext of combating extremism. Mass detentions of journalists, religious activists, and social media users continue for expressing dissent or criticizing the Russian army.

The head of the UN Human Rights Mission, Danielle Bell, emphasized that the Russian occupation has become one of the most well-documented systems of oppression and abuse in the world. She stressed that the occupiers are systematically and according to clear rules depriving people of their basic rights.

We previously reported that the occupying authorities have turned Islam in Crimea into a tool of total control, replacing independent religious communities with clergy controlled by the Kremlin. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, the FSB is fabricating cases against Crimean Tatars on a massive scale.

Юлія Калабайда