Putin, the ‘Goblin’ and the resistance: life and death in occupied Crimea
It has been nine years since Russia took the peninsula. Now Ukraine is preparing to win it back
Russia captured Crimea in 2014 using thousands of unmarked soldiers, but its control is now under threat
STR/AP
The Sunday Times
In the classroom Crimean children race each other to assemble their assault rifles. A young girl, her brown hair hanging over her eyes, slams a magazine into her weapon and a teacher asks: “Who won?”
Elsewhere in the building, primary school age boys and girls wearing camouflage gear pose with Kalashnikov rifles and show off hand-to-hand combat moves.
The intended message behind the video, published recently by Russian state media, is clear: Crimeans of all ages are getting ready to fight.
But Oleksiy, a lawyer living on the peninsula, has his doubts. “Russia has killed civil society and most people are just part of a grey mass,” he says. “If Ukraine takes Crimea back they will just sigh and live under Ukrainian rule again.”
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