Russia has made it simpler for all Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship, extending a measure that used to apply only to residents of Moscow-occupied Ukraine territories, according to a presidential decree released today.

"Ohe citizens of Ukraine (...) have the right to apply for citizenship of the Russian Federation under a simplified procedure," reads President Vladimir Putin's decree, as quoted by the French news agency AFP.

The measure extends to all Ukrainian citizens a procedure approved in May for the inhabitants of the Zaporijia and Kherson regions, which Russia has largely controlled since it invaded Ukraine on February 24 this year.

Pro-Moscow authorities in both regions have already announced that they are preparing a referendum on Russian annexation, similar to what happened with the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Russia was also already allowing access to Russian citizenship to residents of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, which Putin recognized as independent from Ukraine the day before the invasion.

Russian authorities have been accused of handing out passports to citizens of neighboring countries to consolidate their influence.

Before Ukraine, Moscow adopted the same procedure in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia and Transnistria in Moldova.

Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova are former Soviet republics with pro-Western ambitions.

In launching the offensive in Ukraine, Putin said he was responding to a request for help from Donetsk and Lugansk, which make up the Donbass region in the east of the country.

The two separatist regions had been at war with the Kiev authorities since 2014, with support from Moscow.

The international community at large has condemned Russia for starting the war in Ukraine, which entered its 138th day today.

The European Union and several Western countries have enacted successive sanctions packages against Russia and supplied Ukraine with weapons.

The exact number of civilian and military casualties is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, have warned that it will be considerably high. (Lusa)