Russian authorities in charge of captured Ukrainian territories along the country's Black Sea coast are requiring local businesses such as hotels and restaurants to open and operate for the summer tourist season, Ukrainian officials are reporting.
Ukraine's Ombudsman for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova wrote on her Telegram account that Russians are looking to use the beach resorts, which became more popular for millions in Ukraine following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Russians are looking for alternatives, she said, since Crimean hospitality locations, such as sanatoriums, have been filled with soldiers injured and wounded in battle in the country's invasion of Ukraine.
In lieu of Crimea, Russians — including some military — are traveling a couple of miles up north to the Kherson region. Locals are threatened and told to make sure the resting Russian soldiers are given the best treatment possible.
In peacetime, southbound trains packed with tourists start coursing to hundreds of small coastal towns in mid-May and continue until the end of the summer in August. One such town is Skadovsk, a town just 30 miles from Crimea, which has been under occupation since the very first days of the war.
While preparations for the coming tourist season are usually well underway by mid-May, a photo report done by a local newspaper reveals a deserted town. Mayor Oleksandr Yakovlev said more than 50% of the people that would usually work the restaurants, beaches, hotels, and sanatoriums have left because of the war.
To make matters worse, prices for basic food and supplies have gone up by 50% in some cases and most shops are now selling primarily Russian items.
Things are more ominous in the much more popular part of the Kherson region known as the Arabat Spit, a narrow corridor of land off the east coast of Crimea which separates large, shallow salty lagoons from the Sea of Azov.
"The Arabat Spit borders the occupied Crimean peninsula, that Russians are also using as a military base to attack mainland Ukraine. Jets, helicopters, deadly rockets will be flying right above the heads of these 'tourists'" Denisova said.
Denis Pushilin, the head of the Russian-backed, self-declared "Donetsk People's Republic," has also made statements about bolstering tourism in the newly captured territories. He is eyeing Mariupol as the next tourist location, particularly the territory of the Azovstal steel plant.
"Our mission is to make Mariupol into a tourist town, which is something we couldn't do before," he said in an interview with Tass Russian News Agency.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.