09:44 12.02.2020

Zelensky: We'll create program to motivate young people from temporarily occupied territories to retain Ukrainian citizenship

2 min read
Zelensky: We'll create program to motivate young people from temporarily occupied territories to retain Ukrainian citizenship

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting on providing the youth living in the temporarily occupied territories with opportunities to obtain a passport of a Ukrainian citizen and assisting them in entering Ukrainian higher education institutions, the presidential press service said.

"We need to establish contact with civilians in the occupied territories who cannot live in Ukraine-controlled territory for some reason," Zelensky noted.

During a meeting, the head of state emphasized that the Russian Federation was massively issuing its passports to people living in the temporarily occupied territories as war in the east of Ukraine continued. According to the president, such a situation is unacceptable and Ukraine must fight for its citizens. Therefore, there is a need to develop a special program aimed at providing the youth with documents proving Ukrainian citizenship.

Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov and his deputy Tetiana Kovalchuk outlined proposals that could form the basis of the future program, inter alia, simplification of the procedure of obtaining administrative services, in particular as regards obtaining a Ukrainian birth certificate and passports by residents of the occupied territories.

The parties also consider the possibility of providing distance learning of Ukrainian language and history of Ukraine - subjects that are not currently taught in the temporarily occupied territories, expanding the number of higher education institutions which children of this category could enter, increasing quotas for state-funded places in them, hotline for entrants and more.

The President also stressed that such measures should motivate young people to get Ukrainian education and contribute to their future life in the territory controlled by Ukraine.

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