This book reveals the mechanisms of the Russian occupation of Ukrainian mainland areas during the full-scale invasion. What kind of regime has Russia established since the beginning of its occupation and annexation of Ukrainian territory? What does the occupation mean for those affected, how do they experience Russian control, and how do they cope with the imposition of Russian order? What kind of everyday practices, tensions, and contradictions emerge? The ultimate aim of Russia’s occupation policy since 2022 is the destruction of Ukraine’s distinctive political, social, linguistic, and religious identity. Occupation means forced displacement, destruction, theft of property, systematic repression, regular human rights abuses, denigration, the imposition of Russia’s imperial narrative, control of the public sphere, the Russification of society, the economy, and polity, and forcing people to adopt humiliating survival strategies. The experience of war and occupation entails shock, violence, torture, and sexual abuse as a “new normal.” Russia intentionally destroys the social fabric and solidarity of Ukrainians.



This book examines the realities of Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories since 2022—its regime, repression, and the impact on daily life. It exposes how Russia seeks to erase Ukraine’s identity through violence, displacement, and forced assimilation, turning war into a brutal ‘new normal’.



Dr. Andreas Heinemann-Grüder is Professor of Political Science at the University of Bonn and Senior Researcher at the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies. He taught at the Free as well as Humboldt University of Berlin, Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Cologne. He has given policy advice to Germany’s Chancellery, Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Parliament, as well as the European Parliament, OSCE, NATO, and EU. Dmitry Durnev is an independent journalist in Ukraine who has been working for Open Democracy, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Spektr Press, and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Formerly, he was editor-in-chief of Moskovsky Komsomolets - Donbass. Julia Friedrich is Research Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin and was a visiting fellow at the Razumkov Centre in Kyiv. Her research has focused on security dynamics in Russia and Ukraine, the impact of the Donbas War on social cohesion in eastern Ukraine, and the reintegration of veterans into Ukrainian society. Sergey Savchenko, Lt. Gen. (Ret.), heads the Analytical Center for the Study and Counteraction to Hybrid Threats in Kyiv. In 2004–05, he was Deputy Head of the Multi-National Division South-Centre in Iraq, and, in 2014–16, he participated in Ukraine’s Anti-Terrorist Operation against Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas.