Tass: Putin Eases Rules On Russian Passports In Ukrainian Territory

Russia's state-run Tass is reporting that President Vladimir Putin has delivered an order easing rules on the provision of Russian passports to individuals in the occupied Ukrainian regions around the southern cities of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

• Earlier today wires and social media reported that First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Viktor Vodolatsky made the unverified claim that "70%" of the citizenry in these regions want to get Russian passports.
• Neither Kherson nor Zaporizhzhia sit within the territory of the Donbas, potentially indicating that Russia will maintain a claim over areas of Ukraine outside the breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics. The Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts would likely form the necessary 'land bridge' between the Donbas and Crimea that Russia could seek to annex as part of its invasion.