On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation began a large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. Since the beginning of March 2022, there have been reports of the forced transfer of Ukrainian citizens to the territories occupied before 24 February 2022, and later - of their deportation to the territory of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. The deportations took place from the areas of active hostilities, as well as from the settlements occupied by the Russian army in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson regions.