MAIN TOPICS:

• The occupiers seized the Cathedral of Saints Volodymyr and Olga in Simferopol. This is not an accident, but a systemic crime that the occupation administrations have been committing since 2014 to stop the functioning of the OCU in the temporarily occupied Crimea: https://cutt.ly/Y6UXVii
• Last week, Aziz Akhtemov and Andriy Kolomiets celebrated their birthdays in illegal detention. Our campaign “Letters to a Free Crimea” is running until May 27 – you can write letters to political prisoners, and we will pass them on: https://cutt.ly/e5IoS7o

Crimes of occupation

• As of May 15, it is known that the occupiers in Crimea have illegally imprisoned 182 Ukrainian citizens, 116 of whom are representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. Out of the total number, 37 political prisoners are arrested, 125 are imprisoned, 18 are without status, and 2 have been released but are still being held in the center for temporary detention of foreign citizens in Russia.
• As of May 9, 343 “cases” have been opened under the absurd accusation of so-called “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces”, namely under Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. Out of the total number of “cases”, the occupation courts issued 298 illegal rulings on fines ranging from 30 thousand to 75 thousand rubles.
• The occupying country has also provided for criminal liability for the so-called “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces” – Articles 207.3 and 280.3 of the Criminal Code. Under these articles, 2 illegal sentences were passed in the occupied Crimea. Details are available in our reference: https://cutt.ly/x5KlaYs
• According to the Crimean Solidarity, Lenur Seydametov and Ruslan Mesutov are forced to go on hunger strike, because, contrary to their religious beliefs, they are fed food with pork in it. The political prisoners were illegally transferred to Russia, and the prison administration ignores their repeated complaints about their poor health.
• Political prisoner Nariman Dzhelal is also being provided with inadequate medical care, and his health condition is deteriorating significantly. On May 11, he was transferred to the Simferopol SIZO-2. He is being held in a quarantine cell together with two other prisoners. Nariman’s illness – he has three intervertebral hernias – has worsened, which in these conditions makes it difficult for him to stay there, it is difficult for him to sit and stand.
• Also, Ekrem Krosh was transferred to Simferopol SIZO-2 – during the “transfer” the political prisoner was kneed several times in the ribs and his personal belongings and food were taken away. Amide Krosh’s wife says that the conditions of detention in this detention center are much harsher than in the previous one, and the occupiers apply pressure not only to her husband, but also to other prisoners.
• The occupiers deported political prisoner Rustem Seitmemetov to the territory of the Russian Federation, which is a gross violation of Article 4 of the Geneva Convention.
• The illegally imprisoned journalist Vladislav Yesypenko is under psychological pressure in the colony: after the start of the full-scale invasion, the colony is closely monitored for the political prisoner’s behavior and words. Almost every week, the colony administration summons him to their office and warns him not to say anything “unnecessary” to his lawyer and family.

Militarization of the Crimean peninsula

• Residents of the occupied Crimea continue to record the activity of Russian fighter jets firing missiles toward the mainland of Ukraine on a daily basis. There are also reports of missiles being launched from the Black Sea in the same directions.
• According to open sources, the occupiers have recently been exporting a lot of wheels for armored personnel carriers and transferring military equipment through the Simferopol-Gruzhny railway junction.
• The invaders were very afraid for the strength and accuracy of the “invincible Crimean air defense” – they actively published “requests” for local residents not to launch foil balloons, Chinese lanterns and other objects made of light metal alloys into the sky on May 9.
• Journalists from the Radio Liberty and Krym.Realii projects published an interactive map of the occupied Crimean peninsula with 223 active, temporary, and mothballed Russian military facilities in 10 categories with geolocations. These objects include military airfields with infrastructure, points and places of basing of ships, vessels and boats, docks, arsenals, warehouses of weapons, food and weapons of mass destruction, military camps, military units, barracks, headquarters and command posts, military equipment parks and places of air defense, training grounds and training centers; some enterprises of the military-industrial complex.

Forced mobilization

• As of May 15, at least 373 soldiers of the Russian army have already been buried in the occupied Crimea. 264 of them were probably Ukrainian citizens. The number of burials may be higher, as many of them take place without coverage.
• The Crimean Tatar Resource Center, with the help of concerned residents of the occupied Crimea, identified persons involved in the criminal mobilization in the Yedikuy (Lenin) district of Crimea. We remind you of our guide on how to avoid illegal service in the aggressor’s army: https://cutt.ly/vVIJLiQ.

Propaganda of the occupation administrations and incitement to hatred

• The Taliban’s occupation dog continues to hunt citizens for any manifestation of support for Ukraine: at least 4 residents of the peninsula have become victims of his public harassment this week. Because of his actions, people are quitting their jobs, losing their businesses, etc.
• Pressure on the indigenous Crimean Tatar people of Ukraine continues: On May 12, during the Friday prayer in the Suvuk-dere mosque (Simferopol district), occupation forces broke in and conducted so-called “preventive actions”: checking people and documents, conducting interviews, etc.
• In the village of Hvardiyske, Simferopol district, the occupiers unveiled a monument to Russian soldiers who died in the war against Ukraine: the memorial contains information about 20 soldiers. A similar thing was done in Dzhankoy – the occupiers placed information about 16 victims on the open “alley of glory”.
• As part of the victory celebration, the occupiers “offered” parents and forced children to dress in Soviet uniforms, pin on Colorado ribbons and recite poems about the “day of victory” on camera. These videos were then actively distributed by propagandists.
• Two girls from the temporarily occupied Crimea filmed their photo shoot in Tiktok against the backdrop of a burning oil depot in Sevastopol, for which the occupiers forced them to do “community service,” filmed it and posted it online.

Public sentiment

• Ordinary residents of the still occupied peninsula actively continue to terrorize the occupiers with pro-Ukrainian sentiments: in Alushta, inscriptions “Come back Ukraine” appear, Andriy Bilozerov, illegally convicted of “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces,” got a tattoo with a trident, and on the square in Yevpatoriya, a woman played the national anthem of Ukraine on the violin.
• In the occupied Crimea, residents burned St. George’s ribbons most actively on May 9 as part of the “Down with the Colorado” campaign by the Yellow Ribbon Movement. The Crimean Fighting Seagulls are also active, and they are currently focused on persecuting collaborators, but the BSF also claimed involvement in the “cotton” in Simferopol.
• The Head of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov said that “it is not easy for the occupation army to leave Crimea now. Because additional checkpoints have been set up at the entrance to the Kerch bridge from Crimea”: they check vehicles, documents, and every person. He noted that this is how “the Russians maintain tension and demonstrate that the territory of the peninsula is a trap from which no one can leave.”
• The head of the Mejlis also added that Russians are taking to the occupied peninsula property looted from residents of the temporarily uncontrolled territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions who were forced to “evacuate”.
• The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports that in the village of Velyka Bilozerka, Zaporizhzhia region, last week most collaborators used their own vehicles to leave for the occupied Crimea.
• Occupants detain activist of the “Yellow Ribbon” in Crimea Violeta is a brave woman who recently fought against the occupation and racism on the peninsula, posting leaflets, drawing graffiti, and tying yellow ribbons. Despite the interrogations, Violeta did not change her position, but she had to go abroad.
• Dissatisfaction with the so-called “svoe” among the residents of the occupied Crimea is no longer unnoticeable, as the number of those whose relatives were wounded or killed in the war is also growing. The most frequent discussions about this are in public transportation.
• The Mission continues to receive inquiries from Ukrainian citizens who want to leave Crimea because they cannot tolerate the occupation and total propaganda. We remind you of our instructions on how to leave the temporarily occupied Crimea: https://cutt.ly/YV8zdBz

❗️ We thank the conscious Ukrainian citizens in the occupied Crimea for promptly reporting on the situation on the Crimean peninsula, in particular on the socio-economic situation, the movement of Russian troops, the movement of resistance to the occupation, etc. For more information, please send an e-mail to the Mission’s Information Support Department:

📧 [email protected]

🇺🇦 Glory to Ukraine!