21 May 2024
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA ON MAY 21, 2024
Main news of the week
▶ On the night of May 15, the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to hit a Russian military warehouse near the Belbek airfield near occupied Sevastopol. As a result of the strike, two Russian MiG-31 interceptors and one Su-27 completely burned down. Another MiG-29 was damaged. The fuel storage facility was also on fire.
▶ The Command of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that on the night of May 18, the Ukrainian Defense Forces managed to destroy an enemy vessel of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Project 266-M Kovrovets, in the temporarily occupied Crimea.
▶ On May 17, in the occupied Crimea, Russian security forces illegally broke into the house of the editor-in-chief of the Crimean Tatar newspaper QIRIM Bekir Mamutov, and an employee of the publication Seiran Ibrahimov. Currently, the editor-in-chief of QIRIM is illegally accused of “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces”. It is noteworthy that on the eve of the illegal searches, Bekir Mamutov gave an interview about peaceful demonstrations to honor the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people in the occupied Crimea.
▶ On May 18, Ukraine marked the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide and the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, which was recognized as genocide in 2015 by Ukraine, in 2019 by Lithuania and Latvia, and in 2022 by Canada.
Crimes committed by the Russian Federation in the occupied Crimea
▶ As of May 2024, Russia has illegally imprisoned 218 people in occupied Crimea on ethnic, religious, and political grounds, including 133 Crimean Tatars.
▶ The Russian occupiers continue the practice of persecuting and putting pressure on Crimean Tatar human rights defenders who defend the rights of political prisoners illegally persecuted by the Russian occupation administration in Crimea. For example, Crimean Tatar lawyer Emil Kurbedinov was fined 30 thousand rubles for posting on social media about the illegal mobilization of students by the Russian occupiers in Crimea.
▶ The wife of Crimean Tatar activist and father of many children Eldar Yakubov, who was illegally sentenced to 11 years in prison, has received permission to have her first date with her husband. The woman had been denied a meeting for over 8 months. Eldar Yakubov told his wife that he was suffering from headaches and noise in his head. Aishe Yakubova also noted that her husband had lost a lot of weight due to the harsh conditions of detention.
▶ In Simferopol, an occupation “court” illegally sentenced an activist of the Yellow Ribbon resistance movement Mykola Onuk to 5 years in prison for speaking out against the Russian occupation of Crimea. Contrary to the legislation, the verdict was announced without the participation of the audience.
The resistance movement of Ukrainian citizens in the occupied Crimea
▶ Russia is persecuting at least 802 people in occupied Crimea for expressing solidarity with Ukraine. People are receiving administrative punishments in the form of illegal fines and arrests.
▶ A resident of occupied Simferopol posted the Ukrainian song Chervona Kalyna (Red Viburnum) on his social media. The Russian occupiers detained the man, forced him to apologize on camera, and sent the materials to the occupation “court”.
▶ A resident of Sevastopol filmed and posted on a social network the work of enemy Russian air defense on the night of May 17. The occupiers illegally detained the man and forced him to apologize on camera.
▶ A couple from occupied Yevpatoria listened to Ukrainian songs and spoke out against Russian aggression against Ukraine in their home. Occupation forces broke into the private home and forcibly detained the man and woman, who face criminal accusations, and forced them to apologize on camera.
▶ Activists of the Yellow Ribbon movement continue to resist the occupiers in Crimea, destroying copies of propaganda materials and distributing patriotic symbols in the occupied cities of the peninsula. For example, activists placed pro-Ukrainian posters in Yalta and Simferopol. In addition, Yellow Ribbon activists honored the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people on the 80th anniversary of the deportation.
▶ The activists of the Crimean Combat Seagulls continue to expose the personal data of collaborators and Russian war criminals in the occupied Crimea. The activists also honored the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people.
▶ The Zla Mavka resistance movement continues to publish its diaries and a weekly newspaper that reveals the crimes of the occupiers.
▶ Activists of the ATESH resistance movement record the arrival of military units of the Russian occupiers in Dzhankoi, including The Federal Security Service officers who were involved in the protection of Russian military facilities in Crimea. ATESH also reports on the work of the engineering staff of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Bakhchysarai district. The activists passed all this information to the relevant services of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. Also, in the east of occupied Dzhankoi, activists discovered the occupiers’ radar stations near the positioning of Russian military personnel. The geolocation data was passed to the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
The full-scale invasion was marked by a sharp increase in solidarity and resistance actions of the residents of the 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, 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 Armed Forces”.
We call on the international community not to ignore Russian crimes against Ukrainian citizens in the occupied Crimea and to spread information about human rights violations in the occupation.