12 years ago, on March 16, 2014, Russia staged a sham and illegal "referendum" at gunpoint held by Russian military forces in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Just days later, the Russian occupiers used this spectacle - legally null and void by its very nature - to create a facade of "grounds" for the illegal annexation of the ARC and the city of Sevastopol.

The occupation of Ukrainian territories flagrantly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as the fundamental principles of international law, including the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and other basic international legal documents.

The attempted annexation of Crimea has been condemned by a broad consensus of UN member states in numerous General Assembly resolutions. No one in the world, except for a few pariah regimes allied with Moscow, recognize the Russian occupation of the peninsula.

Massive repressions and human rights violations arrived on the peninsula on the bayonets of the Russian occupiers. Russia has turned Crimea into a territory of lawlessness, where people are intimidated, persecuted, and imprisoned solely for the language they speak, the views they hold, or the faith they practice. Over the years of occupation, Russia has illegally banned the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and forcibly terminated the activities of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The indigenous people, the Crimean Tatars, have faced particularly brutal oppression. For the second time in seventy years, Moscow has stolen the native land of the Crimean Tatars following the 1944 genocidal deportation. Tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars have been forced to flee the occupied peninsula, just as the generations of their parents and grandparents did. Those who remain are subjected to persecution and intimidation.

In total, during the years of occupation, at least 430 people have gone through politically motivated cases, though the real number may exceed 500, as the occupation authorities do not publicly report all instances. As of now, nearly 300 individuals are held in Russian captivity under politically fabricated charges, including 159 Crimean Tatars. We demand their immediate release and safe return to Ukraine, the upholding of their rights, and the provision of necessary medical assistance in accordance with international humanitarian law.

We call upon international governmental and non-governmental organizations, human rights defenders, and activists to keep Russian human rights violations in Crimea in focus.

Despite the pressure of the occupation regime resistance to the occupation persists on the peninsula, as do the people who keep Ukraine in their hearts. We remember them, we know their stance, and we will never stop fighting for the liberation of the peninsula.

Russia also flagrantly violates international humanitarian law by forcibly changing the ethnic composition of the population, conducting forced mobilization on the peninsula, and destroying cultural heritage sites and historical locations. We insist on the necessity of punishment for these and other crimes of the occupiers.

Over the years of occupation, Russia has effectively turned Crimea into a military base and a bridgehead for further aggression against Ukraine and the destabilization of the Black Sea region and Europe as a whole. The militarization of Crimea has a negative effect on all Black Sea states. The Black Sea will become a space of security, prosperity, and peace only after the de-occupation of the Crimean peninsula and its return to Ukraine.

We reiterate the demand for the return of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to Ukraine’s control. The Ukrainian state will never recognize the Russian occupation of the peninsula and will seek the restoration of its territorial integrity by all available means.

The Ukrainian side will continue to utilize every international platform and international legal mechanism for the de-occupation of Crimea, including all dimensions of the International Crimea Platform. The "Crimean issue" will never be removed from the agenda until justice is restored.

We call on the international community, all states, and international organizations to strictly adhere to the policy of non-recognition regarding Crimea and other temporarily occupied territories of our state. This is not just about Ukraine, but about principles: respect for international law, the territorial integrity of states, and the UN Charter.

This entails the absence of any actions that could be perceived as legitimizing the Russian presence on the peninsula: full compliance with and strengthening of sanctions regimes, the absence of any contact with the Russian occupation authorities, the impermissibility of visiting temporarily occupied territories without Ukraine's permission, and the correct depiction of the map of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders in media, printed materials, and online resources. The Ukrainian side will respond to every instance of violation of the non-recognition policy.

The world must learn the "Crimean Lesson": the lack of an adequate response to a brazen violation of international law only encourages the aggressor to further atrocities. Now, as Moscow continues its aggression and atrocities, there can be no talk of easing restrictions - all forms of pressure on the Kremlin must be intensified.

What has been stolen have never brought anyone happy; sooner or later it must be returned. History shows that nations that do not resign themselves to the theft of their territories will one day inevitably reclaim them. Crimea is Ukraine. It will surely return to its native Ukrainian harbour.