19 November 2024
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA ON NOVEMBER 19, 2024
Main news of the week:
▶ On the morning of November 13, in occupied Sevastopol, Ukrainian special services liquidated the Chief of Staff of the 41st Brigade of Missile Ships and Boats of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 47-year-old Captain Valerii Trankovskyi. The war criminal was responsible for the July 14 strike on Vinnytsia. The attack killed 27 people, wounded 202, and left 8 people missing.
Crimes committed by the Russian Federation
▶ As of November 2024, Russia has illegally imprisoned 218 people in occupied Crimea on ethnic, religious, and political grounds, including 132 Crimean Tatars.
▶ The occupation “court” upheld the unlawful verdict in the so-called “Crimean Muslims case” against Servet Haziiev, Alim Karimov, Seiran Murtaza, and Erfan Osmanov, who were illegally sentenced to 13 years in prison. Only Dzhemil Hafarov‘s sentence in this case was annulled due to his death in custody. The 61-year-old political prisoner died on February 10, 2023, from cardiovascular failure due to the non-provision of prompt medical care in a Russian prison.
▶ Crimean Tatar activist Ruslan Nahaiev, illegally sentenced by a Russian court to 13 years in prison in the case of “Crimean Muslims,” has been in a hospital in Arkhangelsk, Russia, for a week now. Nahaiev has been hospitalized in an institution that is not specialized for his condition, and doctors are still unable to provide conclusions on the need for surgery. The decision on the surgical intervention has not yet been made. Ruslan Nahaiev has a chronic illness that has become inflammatory.
▶ The wife of Russian-convicted Crimean Tatar activist Server Mustafaiev spoke about the difficult conditions of his detention in a Russian colony since August 2023. Server is kept in isolation, which negatively affects his health. Due to the lack of sunlight, the man has a vitamin D deficiency. In addition, his eyesight is deteriorating, and he has a crepitus in his knees, which requires additional examination.
▶ At least eight Crimean Tatars, including activist Marlen Mustafaiev, are held in harsh conditions in a Russian prison 2,000 kilometers away from occupied Crimea. They are all held in a small cell in a jail in Dmitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region of the Russian Federation.
▶ Russian security forces have submitted materials from a criminal case to the occupation “court” against a resident of the village of Razdolne in occupied Crimea. She is being unfairly accused of organizing a meeting for the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious group and faces a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years. The occupying authorities continue to persecute residents of Crimea based on their religious beliefs systematically.
▶ In Crimea, the occupation administration illegally seized the property of relatives of a Ukrainian military man. The man is a member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so the Russian side unlawfully accuses him in absentia of alleged “terrorism” for defending his country. The Russian occupiers systematically persecute relatives of Ukrainian soldiers living in the temporarily occupied territories.
The use of occupied Crimea as a springboard for attacks on Ukraine and the militarization of the peninsula
▶ According to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russian occupiers carried out a series of massive attacks on the territory of Ukraine during the week. In particular, 2 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, 2 X-59/69 guided missiles, 1 3M22 Zirkon hypersonic ship missile, 101 X-101 Kalibr cruise missiles, 119 Shahed attack UAVs and unidentified drones, including from the territory of occupied Crimea and the Black Sea. In particular, the Russian invaders carried out one of the most massive combined strikes on the energy sector facilities of Ukraine. They hit a residential building in Odesa with a ballistic missile, killing at least 8 people.
▶ Activists of the ATESH movement recorded the operation of the Pidlit radar station, which the Russian occupiers deployed in the area of the Striletska Bay of occupied Sevastopol.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion and extended its armed aggression across the entire territory of Ukraine, occupied Crimea has been used by Russia as a military base to further its aggression in various forms. From the peninsula, occupiers continue to strike Ukrainian territory, including targeting civilian infrastructure.
The resistance movement of Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea
▶ Russia is persecuting 1047 people for showing solidarity with Ukraine in occupied Crimea; these people receive administrative penalties in the form of unlawful fines and arrests.
▶ A senior citizen posted a video criticizing the Russian pension reform on her social media and a post asking, “Why do we need Crimea and Donbas at such an exorbitant price?” The occupiers decided that the video “discredited the Russian armed forces” and illegally fined the woman 40 thousand rubles.
▶ Activists of the Yellow Ribbon movement held another action in Crimea, placing over a hundred posters and more than 150 yellow ribbons in occupied Simferopol, Bakhchysarai, and Yevpatoriia, reminding of the steadfastness of Ukrainian resistance to Russian invaders. In addition, patriotic stickers and ribbons were placed in Sevastopol, Haspra, Foros, and Yalta to remind people that Ukraine is indivisible from Crimea. The movement’s activists also raised a blue and yellow flag to the highest point of the Baidar Yayla–the Ilyas-Kaya Mountain. This is yet another proof of the resilience of Ukrainians even after 10 years of occupation. The activists also announced that on November 21, the Day of Dignity and Freedom, they will hold an all-Ukrainian action Yellow Ribbon in support of civil resistance on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
▶ Activists of the Crimean Combat Seagulls movement reported that a railway bridge collapsed in the village of Maslovo in the Dzhankoi district due to constant overloading caused by the transportation of Russian military equipment.
▶ The Zla Mavka resistance movement continues to publish its diaries, providing insights into life in the occupied territories. This week, the activists organized another resistance action in Simferopol, where they distributed patriotic stickers throughout the city with the message “Crimea is Ukraine.” Additionally, pumpkins bearing a simple message appeared in parks and on the streets of Sevastopol: the occupiers are not welcome here.
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.