Three years into Russia's all-out war on Ukraine, the U.S., which has been providing vital support for Kiev, is now changing tack and is weighing in as a peace broker.

But each worrying side has a different vision of peace, and this brings into sharp focus the fate of the territory

is captured by Moscow. Russia calls them liberated. Ukraine calls them temporarily occupied.

It all started with Crimea in 2014.

There was virtually no bloodshed when Crimea was annexed, mainly because the Ukrainian government was in shambles at the time.

The Ukrainian military was unable to mount any kind of serious resistance.

In Moscow at the time, I saw slogans on the street saying,

Crimea is ours.

It was very much the idea that this was Crimea coming home to its motherland.

Shortly after Crimea was annexed, parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence

from Ukraine. A story journalists have been struggling to tell.

I was mock executed for calling them separatists. They put us against the wall and pretended they were going to kill us.

The occupied territories are in some ways a complete black hole.

We don't know exactly what goes on there.

People who actively support the Ukrainian cause,

that is being violently destroyed. You disagree, you die. It's as simple as that.

From the so-called polite annexation of Crimea to the creeping invasion of Donbass,

to what residents describe as a human safari in Herson, Russia's attempted conquest of Ukraine gets more dramatic and more difficult to peace together.

In this episode, we explore some of the methods the Kremlin uses to erase the Ukrainian

identity of occupied territories.

We'll try to understand how entrenched has Russia made itself there and what that means for the prospect for peace.

Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

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