New Delhi: In a first, local residents in the Moscow-occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine were handed out Russian passports by authorities, reported AFP. The Russian army conquered most of the Kherson region when it launched a military operation against Ukraine on February 24 after which military-civilian administration was formed in the region in late April.


23 Kherson residents have been given a Russian passport at a ceremony through a "simplified procedure" facilitated by a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May, said Russia's TASS agency. The Kherson region is in southern Ukraine, bordering the Republic of Crimea.


"All our Kherson residents want to obtain a passport and (Russian) citizenship as soon as possible," the regional administration's pro-Moscow chief Vladimir Saldo was quoted as saying by TASS. "It's a new era that is beginning for us... It's the most important document a person can possess in their life," Saldo told the agency.


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The official informed that a lot of people who came from other regions are now on the territory of the Kherson region. “The passport service had some doubts about whether to accept (their applications). Prior to that, a decision was taken at a meeting to accept the paperwork from all those wishing to obtain Russian citizenship regardless of whether a person is registered in the Kherson region or not,” Vladimir Saldo said as quoted by TASS.


The official noted until Tuesday the residents of other Ukrainian regions were denied applying for a Russian passport but these restrictions have been lifted now.


In fact, the passport distribution was done on Russia Day, said the Kherson authorities. It falls on Sunday and is a public holiday to mark Russia's independence from the former Soviet Union. This is the occasion for Russians to display national pride.


The Kremlin decree authorising the local authorities to grant Russian passports to local residents also concerned the nearby Zaporizhzhia region partly controlled by Moscow's forces. On its part, Ukraine dismissed the move as a "flagrant violation" of its territorial integrity, saying Putin's decree was "legally void".