WorldGuardianJun 17, 2026Warren Murray
Ukraine war briefing: Moped ban in Crimea as official says noise is Kyiv plot using youth
‘The enemy is recruiting your children for nighttime rides,’ says official, claiming moped noise confuses drone defences. What we know on day 1,575
Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, has banned riding moped scooters, quad bikes and motorcycles at night-time, saying they sound like drone attacks and suggesting children are doing it deliberately at Kyiv’s behest. Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of the illegally occupied peninsula, said the ban would be in place between 8pm and 6am from Wednesday onwards.
Oleg Kryuchkov, Aksyonov’s adviser, claimed separately on Telegram: “The enemy is recruiting your children for night-time rides … The moped noise hampers the work of defence systems. Their engines sound similar [to drones].” Ukraine has recently intensified drone attacks on Crimea, nominally the home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet – targeting the peninsula’s supply routes and triggering a fuel crisis. A limit of 20 litres (5.3 gallons) of fuel per car at petrol sta
