800,000 in eastern Ukraine have received Russian passport since 2019

More than 800,000 people in the eastern Ukrainian separatist regions have received Russian citizenship through a simplified procedure over the past three years, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

Only just 1% of the applications from residents of the self-proclaimed people's republic of Luhansk and Donetsk were rejected, TASS reported citing the Russian Interior Ministry.

In 2019, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin issued a decree facilitating passport issuance for people in the Donbass region.

Passports are also to be distributed in areas occupied by Russian troops since the beginning of the war in February.

The Russian rouble is also to be introduced as a means of payment.