Suppose you are a small Ukrainian ISP working in Berdyansk or Melitopol.
In 2022 you essentially become an ISP working on Russian-held territory. Does RIPE want to just confiscate your address pool and redistribute it back in Ukraine in some form, leaving you without address space?
How does that help the people living on that territory?
The IP addresses are assigned to organizations (ISPs), not countries, so if you are the same ISP, it does not really matter which country held the territory. The article is more about risk of ukrainian ISPs on occupied territories being forced 'at gunpoint' to transfer their IP addresses to russian ISPs.
There are millions of questions like this - and at some point the small Ukrainian ISP is de facto a small Russian ISP.
Often the best thing to do in (reality, practicality) is let things continue as they were, even if technically you could cut them off entirely "as punishment to the Russians" - because it wouldn't actually punish any Russians whatsoever, but would hurt the people on the ground.
People in these territories face a life of pain any way you look at it, frankly. IP addresses are probably pretty low among their current concerns...
They're currently living in a war-torn country under Putin's iron fist. If at some point the Ukrainian army reconquer these areas, there will probably be a witch hunt if not plain ethnic cleansing. If they stay Russian, they'll live forever under the power of Putin's militias and oligarchy. Unfortunately I see no possible positive outcome for them. That's horrifying.
It may not directly help that ISP, but increasing numbers of the people living in that territory will be Russian invaders, as the Ukrainians living there are murdered or deported. And helping the invaders is problematic.
It may indirectly help that ISP or other ISPs in the future if the world makes a general policy of not supporting looting of IP addresses or anything else. If profits from looting are reduced, it may make invasions less likely, as both the rank & file and the leaders/oligarchs have less to gain. And people working at ISPs would generally benefit from their country not being invaded.
In 2022 you essentially become an ISP working on Russian-held territory. Does RIPE want to just confiscate your address pool and redistribute it back in Ukraine in some form, leaving you without address space?
How does that help the people living on that territory?