CHONGAR, Ukraine – It used to be a small peninsula where families gathered to enjoy the view of the Azov Sea before they continued their journey to Crimea. Now, it has become a place where Ukrainian soldiers guard a border point that will lead to the Russian-occupied peninsula.
Vladik Tkachuk, a 28-year-old volunteer soldier from Right Sector is one of them. He used to fight in Pisky near the Donetsk airport, but as violence ceased in the eastern regions, he decided to join the Right Sector unit that has formed the Crimea blockade in Kherson Oblast’s Chongar since Sept. 20. Tkachuk points his buffy arm in the direction of Crimea.
“One or two miles down this road, and you will find yourself in Mordor,” he said, referring to the evil lands in the Lord of the Rings books. “The Ukrainian government is doing nothing to stop the Russian oppression of the Crimean people!” Tkachuk quickly added, explaining that that is one of the reasons why Right Sektor soldiers are forming a blockpost to prevent trucks from entering the Russian-occupied peninsula.
“Right Sector has always been doing what is right for the Ukrainian people. Without us the Russian terrorists in Donetsk would have captured more territory. So standing here on the Crimean border is not only to boycott the Russian occupants, but also to defend our homeland. We’ll shoot them if they even dare to think to claim Chongar,” Tkachuk further explained, referring to the time when Russian soldiers, commonly referred to as the “green men”, also occupied the small island Chongar in Kherson Oblast.
On Feb. 27, 2014 Crimean Berkut officers occupied the village of Chongar and its neighboring territory amid the violent protests in Kyiv.
After Russia annexed Crimea on March 14, 2014, the territory on the small Chongar peninsula became a de facto border zone patrolled by Crimean Berkut and the Russian-backed separatists. Eventually, by Dec. 9, this Russian border checkpoint was abandoned and recaptured by the Ukrainian army.
Since Sept. 20, Crimean Tatars and activists have formed the Crimean blockade on the three highway entries that lead to the Russian-occupied peninsula. After Russia occupied the Ukrainian peninsula, Crimea adopted the Russian legal system, resulting in a significant suppression of the Crimean people, especially the Crimean Tatars.
Leaders of the Mejlis, a representative body of the Crimean Tatars, were banned by Russia from entering their homeland. Those who openly expressed their allegiance to Ukraine were arrested or even abducted by Russian occupants. Crimean tatar activists suffered too, the Russian prosecution of Oleh Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolshenko being the best-known cases.
The Crimea blockade was formed with the goal of ending Russia’s occupation of Crimea and returning it to Ukraine.
A Ukrainian government soldier, who only gave his first name Nikita is not authorized to speak with the media, said that that would be a “hopeless dream.”
“It’s really simple. We’re Ukraine and on the other side is Russia, the biggest country on earth with a more advanced army than we do. Volunteer soldiers suffer from conceit. It’s unthinkable that we can take back Crimea. At least not militarily, maybe diplomatically, but I doubt that,” he told the Kyiv Post.
As trucks aren’t even trying to enter Crimea anymore, all that is left on the road to Crimea is civilian vehicles.
One woman, who did not identify herself because she feared hardships in the Russian-occupied town of Dzhankoy, said that life under a Russian authoritarian regime has become more difficult.
“There’s less freedom. My children aren’t learning Ukrainian in school anymore. On Ukraine’s Independence Day I wanted to hang the Ukrainian flag outside my house, but it wasn’t allowed. I could be fined for it. It’s as if you need to be pro-Russian to live her, but I’m neither. Pro-Ukrainian nor pro-Russian. I just want to live in the beautiful landscapes of Crimea that I call my home,” she said, as Right Sector soldiers searched her car.
“Look, they’re doing this because they think everyone in Crimea is a Russian terrorist!” she yelled, slamming the door of her car when the soldiers finished their search.
A few days earlier, on Oct. 18, the special monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europea visited the Crimea blockade in Chongar.
They quoted local residents on an explosion in an electricity pylon near the Crimean blockade, presumably intended by activists to cut off electricity to Crimea.
Right Sector activist and volunteer soldier Vadim Yutilenko, introducing himself as the head of his unit, said that what the OSCE reported is nonsense.
“Right Sector was not involved in this. Maybe it was a provocation, but Right Sektor was not involved,” he kept repeating.
What the Crimea blockade shows in Chongar is that the activists and volunteer soldiers aren’t willing to give up.
“If it takes years to stay here until Crimea has been returned to Ukraine, let it be,” Yutilenko said, pointing his finger into the sky. “The sun is shining, that means God is with us.”
