16 December 2025
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA ON DECEMBER 16, 2025
Main news of the week
▶ The Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported an attack on an oil depot in Bitumne, Simferopol district, as well as the destruction of a fuel train.
▶ The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine reported that the “Prymary” (Ghosts) unit struck fuel and lubricants depots, as well as high-value “Kasta-2E2” and 96L6E radar stations, which are components of the Russian S-400 “Triumf” surface-to-air missile system.
▶ In Poland, a Russian archaeologist has been detained on charges of conducting illegal excavations at cultural heritage sites in Crimea. The individual is most likely Oleksandr Butiagin, an employee of the Russian State Hermitage Museum.
Crimes committed by the Russian Federation
▶As of December 2025, Russia has unlawfully imprisoned 224 individuals in the occupied Crimea on ethnic, religious, and political grounds, including 133 Crimean Tatars.
▶ On 11 December, the occupying security forces arrived at the office of Crimean lawyers and attorneys who represent political prisoners, including Edem Semedliaiev, Nazim Sheikhmambetov, Liliia Hemedzhi, and Rustem Kyamilev. Another lawyer, Emil Kurbedinov, was not allowed to enter the office. According to Kurbedinov, the security forces accused several lawyers of so-called terrorist activities and began searching their legal case files. This is not the first instance of pressure exerted by the occupiers on Crimean Tatar lawyers and legal professionals. Employees of the so-called Centre E and the occupation administration have repeatedly detained them in the past, attempted to break into the office, disrupted meetings, and obstructed their work by all possible means.
▶ The sister of Crimean political prisoner Bohdan Ziza reported that, due to the conditions of detention in a Russian penal colony, her brother’s health has significantly deteriorated, including the appearance of symptoms of unknown origin, and that torture is still ongoing. According to her, Bohdan has not seen sunlight for a year, as he is not taken outside to the prison yard.
▶ An occupation “court” in Crimea sentenced Niiara Ersmambetova, a resident of the Nyzhnohirskyi district, to 15 years’ imprisonment on fabricated charges of so-called treason. In particular, she was accused of allegedly cooperating with the partisan movement “ATESH” and of transmitting information about occupation forces’ facilities.
The use of occupied Crimea as a springboard for attacks on Ukraine and the militarization of the peninsula
▶ Activists of the ATESH movement conducted reconnaissance of the 758th Logistics Support Centre, a key logistical hub of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. In particular, they recorded the precise coordinates of command buildings and key resource storage facilities. The centre is a critical element whose operation directly affects the ability of the occupation forces to operate in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia directions. The collected data were transferred to the Ukrainian Defence Forces.
▶ According to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian occupying forces carried out massive combined attacks against Ukraine over the course of the week. In particular, on the night of 13 December, Russia launched 465 attack UAVs of the Shahed and Gerbera types against Ukraine. The attack was carried out from several regions of the Russian Federation, with some drones launched from Crimea.
▶ In the temporarily occupied city of Feodosia, Russian security forces conducted another raid aimed at identifying migrants and Russian citizens who are not registered for military service. In this way, the occupiers continue their practice of coercive control and pressure on the local population.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion and spread its armed aggression throughout Ukraine, the occupied Crimea has been used by Russia as a military base for spreading aggression in various forms. From the peninsula, the occupiers continue to launch attacks on the territory of Ukraine, including on civilian infrastructure.
The resistance movement of Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea
▶ Russia is already persecuting 1,642 people for expressing solidarity with Ukraine in occupied Crimea, imposing administrative penalties in the form of illegal fines and arrests.
▶ On 10 December 2025, the Yellow Ribbon movement reported another “Crimea Is Ukraine” action in Sevastopol, Simferopol, Kerch, and Yalta. On the same day, media outlets, citing Yellow Ribbon, reported disruptions to the PSB Russian bank’s mobile application in Donetsk and in the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson region. On 11 December 2025, reports emerged of heightened checks at entry and exit points in the occupied city of Yevpatoria. On 12 December 2025, the media reported the destruction of printed propaganda materials in Melitopol as a form of protest against occupation propaganda and the militarisation of children. On 15 December 2025, it was reported that the service for residents of the temporarily occupied territories, “You Are in Ukraine”, is being implemented in cooperation with Yellow Ribbon and has also become available in the Crimean Tatar language.
▶ Activists of the “Crimean Combat Seagulls” continue to expose the personal data of collaborators and Russian war criminals in the occupied Crimea.
The full-scale invasion has been marked by a sharp increase in acts of solidarity and resistance by residents of occupied Crimea against the Russian occupiers. Residents of the occupied territories unite in resistance movements such as the aforementioned “Yellow Ribbon,” “Crimean Combat Seagulls,” “Zla Mavka,” “ATESH,” or act individually.
To suppress the local resistance movement on the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea after 24 February 2022, the occupiers began actively persecuting and subjecting Ukrainian citizens to administrative liability under the article on so-called discrediting the Russian Armed Forces.
The de-occupation of Crimea is essential to ending the war and restoring peace. Ukrainians are doing everything possible to stop the aggressor and protect the entire world from Russia’s criminal actions. This is not a local or regional issue — Russia’s aggression poses a threat to the whole world and the international order.