Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy has signed a decree "aimed at preserving the ethnic identity of Ukrainians in Russia," that Kyiv now claims as historically Ukrainian lands.

"Today I signed a decree 'On the territories of the Russian Federation historically inhabited by Ukrainians’," Zelenskiy said in his daily video message. The decree is designed to restore "the truth about the historical past for the sake of the Ukrainian future."

The Cabinet of Ministers has been instructed to develop a plan for the National Security and Defence Council “preserving the ethnic identity of Ukrainians in Russia, including the lands historically inhabited by them in Kuban, Starodubshchina, and Northern and Eastern Slobozhanshchina within the present-day Krasnodar, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk and Rostov regions of Russia,” the president said. All of the regions are currently part of the Russian Federation.

0124 Russia Ukraine Zelenskiy decree annex Russian regions

“Zelenskiy has signed a decree on Russian regions populated by ethnic Ukrainians. It doesn’t contain territorial claims but mirrors Russian irredentism,” journalist Leonid Ragozin tweeted. “No similar measures in relation to Poland or Slovakia, but happens on the day [Polish Prime Minister Donald] Tusk is Kyiv.”

The decree doesn’t mention the Russian Far East, which has a sizable Ukrainian population and has had attempts at Ukrainian-majority statehood. Only regions near the Ukrainian border are mentioned in the decree, observes Ragozin.

The decree calls for an investigation of "crimes" allegedly committed against Ukrainians who live or lived in these territories, and the "forced Russification, political repression and deportations." The decree comes into force on the day of its publication.

Poland has been a staunch Ukrainian ally in its war with Russia, although the two countries have been plagued by trade disputes after the import of cheap Ukrainian grain wrecked the local Polish grain market last year leading Warsaw to ban the import of grain and cut Ukraine off from one its few profitable export revenue streams.

Zelenskiy and Tusk pledged to tackle their trade disputes that have hampered their wartime alliance against Russia and boost defence cooperation.

In his first visit to neighbouring Ukraine following his election as prime minister at the end of last year, Tusk delivered a message of solidarity and said both sides "have reached a common understanding" over protests by Polish farmers and truckers that have blocked the border to Ukrainian trucks since last November, the latest in a string of trade disputes. The truckers agreed last week to suspend their protests as a compromise over transit permits for Ukrainian truckers is sought.

"Poland will do everything to increase Ukraine's chances of victory in this war," Tusk said at a joint media briefing, reports Reuters.

On the same day a social media post on X by the Ukrainian user Igor Sushko claimed that Putin declared the 1867 sale of Alaska was illegal: “Putin signed an order insinuating the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867 was illegitimate. This mofo is trolling the West and our leaders shake in their boots in response."

The post included an apparent copy of the signed decree, however, it appears that the decree was faked and the claim is based on article published by essanews.com on January 21, 2024, with the title "Putin stokes tensions with the US, declares 1867 sale of Alaska 'illegal.'"

Russia offered to sell Alaska to the United States in 1859 but the sale was postponed due to the impending American Civil War. The $7.2mn deal went through eight years later, approved by the Senate on April 9, signed by President Andrew Johnson on May 28, and officially incorporated into the United States on October 18, 1867.