People play chess in a park in front of a sculpture reading "Russian Spring" in the Russian-occupied Crimean city of Sevastopol on July 22, 2026.AFP via Getty Images

The least free place on earth: Occupied Ukraine   – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

No political rights. No freedom of expression. No protection from secret detention without access to family, an attorney or a physician. No protection from deportation.

Welcome to Russia-occupied Ukraine.

For the second year running, U.S.-based democracy tracker Freedom House has listed Ukraine’s occupied eastern and southern territories as the most unfree places in the world — outranking South Sudan, North Korea and the Gaza Strip.