Russian authorities are preparing a bill to transfer “ownerless” apartments, houses, and commercial premises on occupied Ukrainian territories into state ownership. Vedomosti reported on the plans on October 20. At the same time, the author argues that in Donetsk and Luhansk, property has been seized from owners since 2014, often through decisions by the de facto authorities.
According to Rosreestr, there are about 550,000 properties on the occupied territories that have been classified as “ownerless.” The author cites an example from the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region, where the agricultural company “Voynikov i Ko” was reportedly targeted for confiscation together with leased land, equipment, and harvested crops. Workers recorded a video appeal to Vladimir Putin, saying the enterprise employed 160 people and was tied to the interests of 3,000 land shareholders.
The article also says that in the self-proclaimed “DPR,” markets, hotels, and businesses linked to funeral services were among the first assets to be “nationalized” after 2014. Using the Kalininsky market in Donetsk as an example, the author describes how owners of trading spaces, after losing their property, were then forced to pay rent to the new administrators.
A separate section deals with housing. After the full-scale invasion and the introduction of Russian rules, the author writes, rights to real estate came to depend on having a Russian passport and being physically present near one’s property. An apartment may be declared “ownerless” if its owner has been abroad for more than six months and has not paid utility bills, with lists of such properties published on local administration websites.
The author notes that in 2025, notices about “ownerless” property continue to appear regularly in Donetsk, including apartments and commercial premises in the city center. In some cases, owners were able to reclaim housing after presenting documents and Russian passports.
In the author’s view, the mechanism has not yet become fully mass-scale, but it is already affecting the most valuable apartments, commercial real estate, grain, and successful agricultural enterprises. He links this to a broader erosion of private property guarantees in territories controlled by Russia.