local pro - kremlin militia promptly beat the two men .
simferopol , crimea – kidnappings , threats and assaults of ukrainian activists and journalists have become the norm in crimea since the russian military invasion of the black sea peninsula on feb. 27 on march 9 , while ukraine was celebrating the 200th anniversary of poet taras shevchenko ’s birth , two activists from the euromaidan revolution -- anatoliy kovalsky and andriy shchekun -- arrived at the simferopol train station to pick up a parcel decorated in ukrainian blue - and - yellow .
“ this is real terror , when people are getting abducted , when two young women talk about their abduction and brutalization at the hands of russia ’s thugs in what used to be ukraine kiev , ukraine -- before the revolution in ukraine , olena maksymenko devoted herself to writing short stories and fairy tales , modeling for fashion agencies and hitchhiking around mongolia , siberia and europe .
after she saw reports of russian troops occupying crimea , maksymenko genuinely believed it would be patriotic to become personally involved by traveling to the peninsula and sharing her views of the euromaidan goals with local people .
a few days before the referendum in which the people of crimea voted overwhelmingly to secede from ukraine and join russia , maksymenko decided to take the trip .
but months of protests on the maidan square in kiev changed the lissome 28 - year - old ’s way of thinking , made her more interested in ukrainian and international politics .
as they approached a checkpoint near armyansk , just after entering crimean territory , maksymenko and her friends oles kromples and
“ get out of crimea on march 10 when dozens of men with white armbands from the russian bloc militia broke into his apartment and threatened the lives of him and his wife .
on march 9th , they packed an suv with a few laptops , cameras and sleeping bags and drove from kiev towards the peninsula some 800 kilometers ( 500 miles ) away .