AFP reports: Alim Aliyev, the Crimean Tatars’ representative in Lviv [a Ukrainian city close to the Polish border where Tartar families are seeking refuge], said he was optimistic about the region’s future. Tatar men were sending their families away so they could dutifully defend their land, he said.

“As long as Tatars are in Crimea, Crimea will remain part of Ukraine,” he said.

Tatars will launch a guerrilla war against the Russian forces if they do not pack up and leave the region, Aliyev warned.

“We will dance the haytarma and the hopak (traditional Tatar and Ukrainian folk dances) on the ruins of Putin’s post-imperialist ambitions,” he said.