Tourism bookings to annexed Crimea have fallen sharply after Russia accused Ukrainian forces of using U.S.-made ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) to attack the peninsula.
The Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI) said Sunday that there has been a 25 to 30 percent decline in bookings in Crimea after debris from Ukrainian missiles intercepted by air defenses landed on a beach in the port city of Sevastopol on June 23.
RUTI noted, however, that overall visitor numbers to the peninsula are still up this year compared with 2023.
The Kremlin accused Ukraine of attacking the region with ATACMS missiles. Kyiv has denied targeting civilians. A U.S. official said it appeared that occupying Russian forces intercepted an ATACMS missile that was targeting a missile launcher in Crimea, and the resulting debris fell on the beach, Reuters reported.
Security video footage of the attack showed tourists fleeing a beach. The Kremlin said at least four people were killed and a further 151 were injured.
Attacks on Crimea have ramped up throughout Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, as Kyiv looks to reclaim the region annexed by Moscow in 2014.
On Monday, Ukrainian navy spokesman Dmitry Pletenchuk urged Russian tourists to leave the Black Sea peninsula. He said Crimea houses many military installations that "no one will leave alone."
Pletenchuk was speaking after reports emerged that more than 1,000 cars were queueing on the Kerch Strait Bridge to exit the peninsula to mainland Russia. There was no immediate explanation for the sudden exodus.
The Kerch Strait Bridge serves as a key supply route for Russia's forces. Ukraine struck the 19-kilometer (nearly 12-mile) road and rail bridge in October 2022 and again in July 2023. The bridge is crucial to sustaining Moscow's military offensives in southern Ukraine and Kyiv has vowed future strikes on the structure as it seeks to recapture Crimea.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak said in June that there can be "no beaches, tourist areas and other fictitious signs of peaceful life" in Crimea.
"Crimea is undoubtedly a foreign territory occupied by Russia, where military actions are taking place, a full-scale war is underway. The very war that Russia unleashed exclusively with genocidal and aggressive intent," he said.
"Crimea is also a large military camp and warehouse, with hundreds of direct military targets, which the Russians cynically try to mask and cover with their own civilians. Who, in turn, are civilian occupiers," Podolyak added.
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Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
