The first office in Ukraine’s breakaway Donetsk region to offer expedited Russian citizenship applications opened for business on May 3. RIA Novosti published photographs of a crowd lined up outside the building. Beginning on May 7, 32 more immigration offices offering Russian passport applications in the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic will also begin accepting applicants.

On April 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed an order granting an expedited citizenship process to residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Ukrainian government has threatened to revoke the Ukrainian citizenship of those who take advantage of the new order.