Crimean Tatars have faced a long history of persecution and ethnic cleansing throughout the Soviet Union. Now, Russia is invading their homeland of Ukraine. Dozens of mainly Tatar Muslims have banded together to form a civilian battalion to fight against Russian troops.
When World War II ended, roughly 218,000 Tatars were deported from the Crimean Peninsula. Many of them only returned home recently, just to be forced out again when Russia took control of the Peninsula south of Ukraine in 2014. They are now fighting to liberate all the territories occupied by the Russians so they can find a way back home to the Crimean Peninsula.

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