Crimea 'at heart' of Ukraine's fight for justice, Zelensky says on Crimean Tatar Flag Day
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President Volodymyr Zelensky sent a message to Ukraine's Crimean Tatar population to mark Crimean Tatar Flag Day, observed on June 26.
The Tatars are the indigenous people of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, illegally occupied by Russian forces in 2014.
"Russia first brought its war to Ukraine in Crimea, and now, through our actions....we are doing everything we can to force Russia to end the war and restore justice. And it is Crimea that lies at the heart of our policy to ensure justice," Zelensky said on social media.
Zelensky referenced the Ukrainian military's campaign of "middle-strikes" against Russian logistics in Crimea, which has led Russian-installed authorities in the peninsula to declare a state of emergency on June 26.
The measure comes a few days after large-scale Ukrainian drone strikes struck a railway bridge across the North Crimean Canal, fuel facilities, and military infrastructure throughout occupied Crimea.
Attacks against energy infrastructure have caused widespread power outages in the region. Crimea has also been facing a severe fuel shortage for weeks.
These measures show that even 12 years after Russia's illegal annexation, Ukraine has not forgotten Crimea or its indigenous people, who form "an integral part" of Ukrainian society, Zelensky said.
"(W)e remember that justice for Ukraine means justice for the Crimean Tatar people as well," he said.
"A people who were forced to endure deportation and decades of persecution. A people who managed to return to their homeland, but whose home the Russians have once again tried to steal. A people who retain their vitality and are an integral part of our society."
Zelensky's words invoke the forced deportation of Crimean Tatars by Soviet authorities during World War II, when the entire Tatar population was falsely accused of collaborating with Nazi Germany. Up to 200,000 Crimean Tatars — mostly women, children, and the elderly — were deported to Central Asia and Siberia, while Crimean Tatar men serving in the Red Army were sent to labor camps.
More than 46% of the victims died as a result of the mass deportation, and today it is recognized by Ukraine and multiple other countries as an act of genocide.
When Ukraine gained independence in 1991, Crimean Tatars were finally able to return en masse to the Crimean peninsula.
But since Russia's 2014 invasion, Crimean Tatars have faced some of the harshest repression under the occuping regime, according to Ukrainian officials. Russia banned the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatar community's representative body, and has imprisoned over 150 Tatars on political charges.
Crimean Tatar people living under Russian occupation face ongoing political suppression and persecution, as well as erasure of their identity and history.
