Step-by-step approach needed for integrating citizens from de-occupied territories – Budanov

He stated this at the international forum "Information War: From Resistance to Resilience," Ukrinform reports.

"Without a systematic approach, nothing will work. Simply telling people, 'you were all wrong, and everything you were told before was nonsense' will not be effective, because psychologically, people are reluctant to admit they were mistaken — even when they know deep down that they were. Similarly, for example, 'forcing everyone to wear vyshyvankas' will meet strong resistance. And not necessarily because anyone is against it, but because people instinctively resist when something is being imposed on them against their will. What's needed here is a systematic, classical, step-by-step approach. We cannot allow people to feel they are being treated as enemies. They are our citizens. They found themselves in a difficult situation and, through no fault of their own, happened to live under occupation," Budanov said.

According to him, if the government approaches the residents of de-occupied territories in an uncoordinated or chaotic manner, this could create instability due to growing social dissatisfaction.

"There could emerge a large group of people saying: 'Why are you treating me like an enemy of the state? I worked at the boiler room or the hospital — what is my personal guilt?' This is a serious challenge. Unfortunately, there is still no clear solution to this problem. But I hope that by the time these territories are liberated, we will have arrived at a systematic and effective strategy for resolving it," Budanov added.