In the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, dignitaries from Ukraine’s Muslim community gathered at Musafir, a Crimean Tatar restaurant in the center of town. Musafir means “guest” or “visitor” in the Crimean Tatar language.
They came together for iftar, the fast-breaking evening meal during the Islamic month of Ramadan when many Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from just before sunrise to sunset.
After a brief prayer, the meal began — starting traditionally with a few dates and moving on to classic Crimean Tatar dishes like chebureki, thin deep-fried turnovers filled with ground beef or lamb and onions.
Most Muslims in Ukraine are Crimean Tatars who are Indigenous to Crimea, the peninsula in southern Ukraine that Russia invaded and annexed in 2014. It set off the war that ramped up with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022.
Many Crimean Tatars fled the peninsula. Some left the country altogether. For those who stayed in Ukraine, this Ramadan, which ends this weekend, is their fourth in wartime. Many say the circumstances have only strengthened their faith.
Tamila Tasheva, a Crimean Tatar herself, and a member of Ukraine’s parliament, was in attendance at the recent Musafir meal.
She said that life has been challenging for her community since the conflict began.
“My parents and mostly my relatives and friends, they live under occupation, and honestly speaking, we don’t speak about politics because it’s dangerous,” Tasheva said. “They live in the territory [in] fear. If you speak something openly, you could [be arrested] by occupying authorities, that’s why mostly people sit silently.”
Tasheva is a strong advocate for Crimean Tatars, and for all Ukrainian Muslims who make up 1% of Ukraine’s roughly 40 million people.
Just a few days earlier, Tasheva helped organize an iftar event attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who expressed his “respect and gratitude to the Ukrainian Muslim community.”
He also said, “we will never forget our Ukrainian Crimea” and all those living under occupation.
Tasheva said that Zelenskyy’s presence at an iftar event sent an important message.
“It’s a really strong signal that we fight for our diverse society, it’s our values,” she said. “You know, we hear all these narratives about Nazi Ukrainians, but you know, you have President Zelenskyy, he supports Muslim soldiers. For me, it’s very symbolic and really very amazing.”
One of the leaders of the Ukrainian Muslim community is Ayder Rustemov, the Supreme Mufti — a Muslim jurist or scholar — of Crimea. Rustemov is tall, he has a well-trimmed graying beard and he wears traditional Crimean Tatar garb, over a Ukrainian embroidered shirt.
He said that since Russia’s full-scale invasion, his role as a religious leader has changed to that of “a spiritual psychologist.”
During the war, people have lived through horrors. Rustemov said some Crimean Tatars have been displaced multiple times because of this war.
“People need spiritual help, to feel that everything will be OK,” he said.
When the war started in Crimea in 2014, people came to the mosque, Rustemov said, and that happened again in 2022. According to Rustemov, mosque attendance in Kyiv is up, and people feel closer to their faith.
“For me, the sweetest Ramadan I’ve experienced was right after the full-scale invasion,” Rustemov said.
At the time, Russian troops were approaching Kyiv, so life and death hung in the air. Rustemov said he thought to himself, “Will I die today, or tomorrow?”
Despite the life-altering circumstances in Ukraine, Rustemov said, he hasn’t altered his approach to prayer. Since Crimean Tatars have been under Russian pressure for so long, he said, living with the uncertainty has become the norm.
“We Crimean Tatars, we’ve known about the Russian invader [for hundreds of years]. “It’s in our blood. Our people have a saying, ‘Just like you can’t lean on water, you can’t rely on a Russian.’”
Maksym Kayola, a colonel in Ukraine’s military, is one of thousands of Muslims serving in Ukraine’s armed forces. He said the war has brought him closer to his faith.
“When the full-scale invasion started, it was scary, so I started praying five times a day,” the obligatory number of daily prayers for Muslims.
In 2022 and 2023, he said, “I didn’t fast during Ramadan, because I was on the front line,” he said.
But now, Kayola works in Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, so he said he’s grateful to be able to keep the Ramadan traditions along with other fellow Muslims, fasting while serving together in Ukraine’s armed forces.