17 June 2025
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA ON JUNE 17, 2025
Main news of the week
▶ 21-year-old activist Sidamet Sitmemetov, who went missing in Simferopol on 4 June, has contacted his family for the first time. He was able to briefly inform them that his freedom is currently restricted.
Crimes committed by the Russian Federation
▶ As of June 2025, Russia has illegally imprisoned 222 people in occupied Crimea on ethnic, religious, and political grounds, including 133 Crimean Tatars.
▶ In occupied Sevastopol, the occupation forces detained a 66-year-old local woman, allegedly for passing information to Ukrainian intelligence about Russian military facilities in Crimea, including photos and videos of Black Sea Fleet vessels. The so-called “court” unlawfully sentenced her to 16 years in a penal colony and imposed a fine of 200,000 rubles on charges of so-called “state treason.”
▶ A 39-year-old resident of Sevastopol was unlawfully fined 45,000 rubles by the occupation administration for social media comments in which she criticized the occupiers and expressed support for Ukraine.
▶ The so-called “court” of the occupation administration rejected the appeals of political prisoners Viktor Kudinov and Serhii Zhykhalov, who were sentenced to six years of imprisonment for allegedly participating in the activities of the religious organization Jehovah’s Witnesses.
▶ Occupation security forces unlawfully fined 24-year-old Elnaz Charukhova, a resident of Skvortsove village in the Simferopol district, for alleged social media posts in support of Ukraine. The young woman refused to record a forced video “apology.”
▶ Activist Iryna Horobtsova, unlawfully sentenced to 10.5 years in a high-security penal colony, is being illegally transferred to Penal Colony No. 2 in the village of Yavas, Republic of Mordovia, Russian Federation.
▶ A 19-year-old student at a Sevastopol college was fined 99,000 rubles by the occupation administration on fabricated charges of allegedly “discrediting the Russian armed forces” and “promoting non-traditional sexual relations.”
The use of occupied Crimea as a springboard for attacks on Ukraine and the militarization of the peninsula
▶ Agents of the ATESH resistance movement continue their operations on the temporarily occupied peninsula. Recently, they disrupted Kremlin-run online platforms that had been broadcasting daily disinformation and working to erase Ukrainian identity among residents of Crimea and adjacent regions.
▶ According to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on the night of June 17, Russian occupation forces carried out one of the largest-scale combined attacks on Ukrainian territory, deploying 472 aerial weapons. These included approximately 280 Shahed-type combat drones and decoy drones launched from Kursk, Shatalovo, Oryol, Bryansk, Millerovo, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, as well as from the temporarily occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea. In addition, the enemy used 2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles, 16 Kh-101 cruise missiles, 4 Kalibr missiles, 9 Kh-59/69 guided missiles, and 1 Kh-31P anti-radiation missile.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion and spread its armed aggression throughout Ukraine, 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 has already prosecuted 1382 people in occupied Crimea for expressing solidarity with Ukraine, who are being subjected to administrative penalties in the form of illegal fines and arrests.
▶ In Sevastopol, the occupation forces detained a 42-year-old woman and her 24-year-old daughter on fabricated charges of “state treason” and alleged cooperation with the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence.
▶ The Yellow Ribbon resistance movement continues to expand its presence despite pressure from the occupation administration. Activists persist in making themselves visible by leaving symbols of Ukraine in public spaces — yellow ribbons on fences, bold slogans on walls, and leaflets at bus stops.
▶ The women’s initiative Zla Mavka documents daily life under occupation through silent resistance. They record changes in public sentiment across Crimean cities, capturing how oppression intertwines with longing for freedom, and fear with hope. Their targeted actions — banners on bridges, graffiti in stairwells, and messages at public stops — defy the occupiers’ illusion of control.
▶ Members of the Crimean Combat Seagulls movement act as an intelligence and analysis wing of the resistance: collecting and verifying data, documenting crimes committed by the occupiers and their collaborators. In doing so, they are building an archive of accountability that will serve as a foundation for future justice. At the same time, they study how civil society resists under extreme conditions.
The full-scale invasion was marked by a rapid increase in solidarity and resistance actions by residents of occupied Crimea against the Russian occupiers. Residents of occupied territories unite in resistance movements, such as the above-mentioned Yellow Ribbon, Crimean Combat Seagulls, Zla Mavka, and ATESH, or act individually. To suppress the resistance movement of residents in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea after February 24, 2022, the occupiers actively began to prosecute and bring to administrative responsibility Ukrainian citizens under the article on the so-called “discrediting the Russian army.”
De-occupation of Crimea is integral to ending the war and restoring peace. Ukrainians are doing everything they can to stop the aggressor and protect the entire world from Russia’s criminal actions. This is not a local or regional issue but a threat to the world and international order.