Twelve years ago, an event took place in Ukrainian Crimea that demonstrated our people’s struggle for their state, independence, and dignity.

On 26 February 2014, in Simferopol, thousands of citizens of Ukraine – Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars, and representatives of other national communities – gathered for a rally in support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

This occurred amid the aggressive war already launched by the Russian Federation against our State, the first stage of which was the temporary occupation of the Crimean Peninsula. On that day, the residents of Crimea made their voices heard against aggression by taking to a peaceful protest – despite the direct threat posed by Russian military forces, which were already seizing administrative buildings and blockading Ukrainian military units across Crimea.

At that moment, the international community did not respond with sufficient resolve to the actions of the Kremlin and failed to take effective steps to prevent the temporary occupation of the peninsula. Feeling impunity, the Russian Federation subsequently expanded its aggression to other regions of Ukraine and, eight years later, launched a full-scale military invasion of our State.

At the same time, the events of 26 February 2014 entered history as living testimony to Crimea’s resistance to the Russian Federation’s expansionist ambitions. Our people were already fighting then, at the very beginning, while the world was merely observing. They forever recorded for history that Crimea did not surrender without resistance and that this resistance endures to this day.

Already at that time, the Russian authorities fully understood that the citizens of Ukraine would not accept the attempted illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. They would not cease resisting the occupation forces, clearly demonstrating to the world that Crimea is Ukraine.

The Russian occupation administration is deploying every effort to break this resistance. It has turned the Crimean Peninsula into a zone of systemic repression. Illegal searches and detentions, politically motivated sentences, persecution on religious and ethnic grounds, forced mobilization, the indoctrination of children and youth, and the persecution of journalists and human rights defenders — all have become instruments for maintaining the occupation regime.

According to available information, Russia is persecuting 1,684 individuals in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, subjecting them to arrests, administrative penalties, unlawful fines, and other forms of pressure. Criminal proceedings are currently underway against 284 individuals.

Particularly cynical is the persecution of Ukrainians and representatives of the Crimean Tatar people, the banning of the Mejlis, and attempts to erase Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar identity from the public sphere.

Despite this, Ukrainian resistance in Crimea continues. Thanks to the resilience of Ukrainians, the world sees that our people have not reconciled themselves to the Russian occupation and will never accept it. Today, we express our gratitude to everyone on the peninsula who keeps Ukraine in their heart and awaits the restoration of justice. Who waits despite everything. We know about you. We remember you. And we will never abandon you. Crimea was, is, and will remain Ukraine. No one and nothing will ever change this.

The return of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol is an integral element of restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and of achieving a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace.

Moreover, the occupation and militarization of Crimea have destabilized the security situation throughout the Black Sea region. Only the return of the peninsula to Ukraine will restore the necessary stability, peace, and security for all States of the region. The Black Sea must be a space of cooperation, trade, and prosperity – not of war, threats, and instability.

We are grateful to our international partners for their support in defending life, freedom, and justice against aggression and terror. We thank the countries and international organizations participating in the activities of the International Crimea Platform and consistently reminding the world that Ukrainian citizens in Crimea are resisting the occupiers, that they cannot be broken, and that the Crimean Peninsula is an integral part of Ukraine.

We call on the international community – all States and international organizations – to strictly adhere to the policy of non-recognition of the temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. We urge them not to allow any actions or contacts that might call this policy into question. We call for maintaining and strengthening international pressure on the occupation administrations and those responsible for human rights violations and other systemic crimes on the peninsula.

We further call for keeping Russia’s crimes against our people in the temporarily occupied territories in the focus of the international community. We urge the world to make every effort to secure the return of our people who have been unlawfully imprisoned by the occupiers from Russian prisons – and to return the stolen peninsula to its rightful owner.

Theft is always temporary.
Crimea is Ukraine!