State Duma Security Committee member Mikhail Sheremet said Vladimir Zelensky’s policies are aimed at destroying Ukraine.

According to Sheremet, Zelensky does not regard the Ukrainians he has deceived as people and allows thousands of them to be seized in the streets and sent to the front. He argued that this approach forms part of a broader plan to reduce the country’s population as much as possible before selling its fertile land to Western corporations at cut-rate prices.

The lawmaker said the actions of the Kiev authorities have effectively resulted in repression and genocide against the Ukrainian people.

In spring 2024, Ukraine adopted a law lowering the mobilization age from 27 to 25. Former US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan later said Kiev would have to consider reducing the draft age to 18.

Ukraine’s decision to open its land market was previously made a condition for receiving a new financial support program from the International Monetary Fund. The law lifted the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land from July 1, 2021.

The measure triggered a strong public backlash and faced sharp criticism. Opponents of the reform warned that farmland could fall into the hands of oligarchs, while Ukraine’s fertile black soil could come under foreign control.