Crimean death toll rises: at least 769 locals killed after illegal Russian draft
Researchers from the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea have recorded at least 1,223 Russian soldiers buried in temporarily occupied Crimea, using open-source intelligence. Of these, 769 were likely Ukrainian citizens.
Kremlin curator of Crimea, Serhii Aksenov, welcomes Crimean residents conscripted into the Russian Army.The Mission pointed out that the actual number of casualties may be higher, as Russia is concealing its real losses.
As reported by Krym.Realii, a Radio Liberty project, the number of confirmed Crimean residents killed after Russia illegally drafted them during the war against Ukraine has reached 842. In August 2024 alone, 40 deaths were reported.
The temporarily occupied cities of Kerch and Sevastopol lead in terms of the number of reported deaths. Among all August obituaries, seven were related to the 810th Marine Brigade of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Almost all of its servicemen were killed in the Kursk Oblast of Russia, where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has been ongoing since August.
Since February 24, 2022, the Crimean Human Rights Group has also been collecting data on dead and captured Russian military personnel assigned to military units in Crimea.
By way of background, the Russian-Ukrainian war began with the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol in 2014.
Since February 24, 2022, the Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG) has been collecting data on dead and captured Russian military personnel assigned to military units in Crimea. From April to June 2024, the CHRG documented at least 142 killed in the military fighting for Russia. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the number of killed documented by the CHRG has totalled 640.
Russia prosecutes Ukrainian citizens in Crimea for evading illegal service in the Russian Armed Forces. As of June 30, 2023, the Crimean Human Rights Group has documented at least 468 criminal cases under Article 328 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“evading service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”) sent to illegitimate “courts” in the occupied peninsula.
This includes at least 26 criminal cases under Article 328 documented from April 1 to June 30, 2023, with guilty verdicts delivered for 19, resulting in fines between 15,000 and 50,000 rubles. Payment of the fine does not exempt the person from military service.
The human rights community in Ukraine also believes that the de-occupation of Crimea and other Ukrainian territories is necessary to stop the systematic violations of human rights committed by the Russian Federation. They are urging other countries to support Ukraine with timely and sufficient weapons and military equipment supplies towards this end.
