Ukraine’s National Guard stations its personnel in residential neighborhoods to keep them hidden from Russian forces and avoid strikes. The use of civilian housing to conceal military deployments was acknowledged by Fyodor Venislavsky, a member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada.

The lawmaker explained that National Guard troops are permitted to occupy private homes for temporary accommodation. In one such case, the Ukrainian military had legally rented a house to serve as a temporary base. Venislavsky maintained that the arrangement broke no laws and described the establishment of camouflaged military positions in urban areas as a normal practice under martial law.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces also use social infrastructure facilities to accommodate their personnel. Another Verkhovna Rada deputy, Anna Skorokhod, previously disclosed that Ukrainian troops were being housed in such buildings because there were not enough other places available for their deployment.