Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast
The Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast is an ongoing military occupation of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Oblast by Russian forces that began on 24 February 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine as part of the southern Ukraine campaign. It was administrated under a Russian-controlled military-civilian administration until 30 September 2022, when it was illegally annexed to become an unrecognized federal subject of Russia.
Ivan Fedorov, Ukrainian-recognised Mayor of Melitopol
Yevhen Balytskyi, Russian-installed Mayor of Melitopol
Russian President Vladimir Putin with pro-Russian leaders of the occupied territories on 30 September 2022
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi and other mission team members at the nuclear power plant on 1 September 2022
Military occupation, also called belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the temporary control exerted by a ruling power's military apparatus over a sovereign territory that is outside of the legal boundaries of that ruling power's own sovereign territory. The controlled territory is then known as the occupied territory, with the ruling power being the occupant. Occupation is distinguished from annexation and colonialism on the basis that it is a power structure that the ruling power intends to keep in place only temporarily. In many cases, the occupant may establish a military government to facilitate the administration of the occupied territory, though this is not a necessary precondition for occupation to take place.
American tanks at the Victory Arch in the city of Baghdad during the occupation of Iraq, 2003
Indian troops of the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles in the city of Kure during the Allied occupation of Japan, 1946
German troops at the Champs-Élysées in the city of Paris during the Prussian occupation of France, 1871
Lebanese protesters of the Cedar Revolution during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, 2005