Ukrainian authorities assured this Wednesday that Russian residents of Crimea, estimated to number between 600,000 and 800,000 according to Kiev, will gradually leave the peninsula due to attacks by Ukrainian forces on the territory annexed by Russia in 2014.
Quoted by the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to Crimea, Tamila Tasheva, viewed this withdrawal of the Russian population as “good news” as Kiev needs to ask fewer people to leave the territory “courteously”.
Tasheva also assured that “another part” of the population living in Crimea is celebrating the Ukrainian offensives, as this could mean that the peninsula will soon return to Kiev control.
“They understand that Ukraine is fighting for Crimea and is going to liberate it,” the representative continued, before referring to several cases of local residents being tried for showing support for Ukraine.
Information provided by the parties about the situation on the fronts often cannot be immediately and independently confirmed.
According to Tasheva, the majority of Crimea’s Russian population is made up of citizens that Moscow has installed on the peninsula, mainly doctors, teachers and journalists. The administrations, justice and intelligence services are ensured by local employees.
“After 2014, they started taking energetic measures against some of them [colaboradores locais]especially high positions, and replaced them with Russians because they don’t like traitors anywhere,” said the same representative.
A census shortly before the annexation of Crimea by Russia indicated that approximately 1.5 million Russians (67.9% of the total), 344,515 Ukrainians (15.7%), 245,000 Crimean Tatars (12.6%), 35,000 Belarusians (1.4%), 13,550 other Tatars (0.5%), 10,000 Armenians (0.4%) and 5,500 Jews (0.2%).
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia to impose political and economic sanctions.
Source: DN
