Crimeans Are Being Used in Storming in Donbas and Kursk Regions

In December, analysts from the Telegram channel “Tribunal. Crimean Episode” identified 47 obituaries of Crimean residents. In five cases, it was confirmed that mobilized residents of the occupied territory participated in combat. The actual number of mobilized individuals could be higher, as nearly half of the reports (43%) did not specify the status of the Crimean residents in the combat zone.

The regions where Crimean residents were most actively deployed in December remain consistent, with the Donetsk region (8 obituaries) and the Kursk region (8 obituaries) leading. At least six of the deceased were from the 810th Marine Brigade based in Sevastopol. Every third obituary in December was for a resident of this city. Other regions with high numbers of casualties include Kerch and Alushta.

Over the past six months (since June 2024), “Tribunal” recorded at least 259 reports of Crimean residents killed in combat zones while fighting on the Russian side. This includes reports of the deaths of two Crimean conscripts and 16 individuals forcibly conscripted under Russia’s “partial mobilization.” However, these figures are incomplete, as the circumstances of forced participation in combat for 48% of the cases remain unclear.

Article 51 of the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War prohibits the recruitment of residents from occupied territories into military units. Article 8 of the Rome Statute classifies the coercion of civilians into the occupying country’s armed forces as a war crime. Sooner or later, the exact number of Crimean residents forcibly mobilized into the war will be determined, as will the individuals responsible for these crimes. Given the severity of the consequences, this issue is likely to receive particular attention from the International Tribunal.

P.S. The number of reports regarding “double-deceased” Crimean residents exceeds the figures provided, but these calculations only include individuals whose residence in Crimea prior to the occupation could be verified. Individuals who moved to the peninsula after 2014 do not fall under the category of the civilian population of the occupied territory.

The text in Russian is available on the Telegram channel “Tribunal. Crimean Episode”

This article is the property of the Crimean Process.