Crimean teenager apologises for supporting Ukraine in forced confession

A teenager from Russia-occupied Crimea has been detained and forced to make a video apology for saying that he supports Ukraine in the war. Popular Russian Telegram channels yesterday published the interview clip from Yalta, a resort town in Crimea, in which a passer-by openly expressed his support for Ukraine. Two young men were seen walking across the park near the sea coast as a reporter approached them and asked if they were afraid of a Ukrainian counter-offensive. “We stand for Ukraine!” a young man in a black hoodie said. The video was widely shared online and taken up by Ukrainian officials as proof against a Kremlin claim that residents of Crimea, which Russia captured in 2014 in a largely peaceful, illegal annexation, genuinely want to be part of Russia. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reposted the video on Tuesday afternoon, predicting that the young men would soon be caught and made to “confess” on camera. Less t