22 October 2024
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA ON OCTOBER 22, 2024
Main news of the week
▶ The health condition of Ukrainian citizen journalist and nurse Iryna Danylovych, who was unlawfully convicted by the Russian occupiers, continues to deteriorate in a Russian prison. She suffers from constant heart and headaches. Danylovych has already lost hearing in her left ear due to an ear infection and is experiencing numbness on the left side of her body after a minor stroke. The occupiers have refused to provide her with a full medical examination, causing her condition to become critical.
Crimes committed by the Russian Federation
▶ As of October 2024, Russia has unlawfully imprisoned 218 people in occupied Crimea for ethnic, religious, and political reasons, including 132 Crimean Tatars.
▶ Russian occupiers have unlawfully sentenced 58-year-old Crimean Tatar Khalil Kurtamet to 8 years in prison. He owned a hotel on the Arabat Spit, which Russian security forces seized after occupying the territory. To justify their illegal actions, Russian occupiers falsely accused him of collaborating with the Crimean Tatar volunteer battalion in 2015.
▶ At the end of 2022, Russian security forces unlawfully abducted Anna Yeltsova in the occupied part of Kherson region and held her in a Simferopol detention center for two years without contact with her family or the outside world. Only now has the occupation “court” opened a baseless criminal case against her for alleged “espionage.” She faces up to 20 years in prison.
▶ A resident of occupied Kerch has been sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security penal colony by Russian occupiers for alleged “treason.” He was accused of providing information about the locations of enemy air defense systems in Kerch. The show trials conducted by the occupation regime against residents of occupied territories violate international law.
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, Russian occupiers have carried out a series of mass attacks on Ukrainian territory over the past week, including using 3 Iskander-M/K ballistic missiles, 2 Kh-31P/Kh-35 guided missiles, and 7 S-300/400 anti-aircraft guided missiles, launched from occupied Crimea and the Black Sea.
▶ Resistance movement ATESH activists report that Russian occupiers are trying to strengthen their positions on the western coast of the occupied peninsula. New checkpoints, trenches, and barbed-wire barricades have been observed in the Nimetska Balka area. Occupiers are increasingly stopping civilian vehicles in search of Ukrainian underground resistance members. Since Russia began its full-scale invasion and expanded military aggression across Ukraine, occupied Crimea has been used by Russia as a military base to launch various forms of aggression. From the peninsula, the occupiers continue to strike Ukrainian territory, including civilian infrastructure.
The resistance movement of Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea
▶ For showing solidarity with Ukraine, Russia is persecuting 979 people in occupied Crimea, subjecting them to unlawful fines and arrests.
▶ A 71-year-old resident of occupied Crimea condemned Putin’s aggressive policies and the Russian occupation army on social media while supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russian security forces detained the man and sent the case to the occupation “court” for further review.
▶ A resident of Kerch expressed support for the de-occupation of Crimea by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and condemned the Russian occupation on social media. The occupiers detained him and, against his will, sent him for examination to a psychiatric institution, with the intent of issuing an unlawful verdict.
▶ A local resident of occupied Yalta voiced support for Ukraine and expressed negative opinions about Russian occupation forces on social media. Russian occupiers filed an administrative protocol against her and unlawfully fined her 30,000 rubles.
▶ Activists of the Yellow Ribbon movement held another action, demonstrating that the residents of Crimea continue to resist the Russian occupiers. The action took place in the Churuk-Su Valley, the foothills of the Crimean Mountains, Simferopol, Livadiia, Yalta, Yevpatoriia, and Sevastopol. Additionally, activists report that Russian occupiers are unlawfully seizing local businesses in Crimea for the benefit of the occupation authorities. Entrepreneurs are falsely accused of organizing “terrorist attacks” and their property is “nationalized.” Over 350 individuals and legal entities are currently on the seizure list.
▶ Activists of the Crimean Combat Seagulls movement report discord within the occupation administration. According to their reports, local collaborators increasingly distrust Russian forces and are gathering armed henchmen and bandits around themselves for protection. Additionally, activists report that paranoia and panic are spreading among the occupiers in Crimea, as they see traitors everywhere, leading to increased repression against the local population. Furthermore, the occupiers are attempting to strengthen fortifications along the peninsula’s coastline.
▶ The Zla Mavka resistance movement continues to keep their diaries, informing about the realities of life in the occupied territories. Additionally, the activists held a resistance action in occupied Kerch, reminding everyone that Crimea was, is, and will remain Ukraine.
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.