British ambassador: Crimea is Ukraine and home of its indigenous people

On International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons has expressed her solidarity with Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks.

Simmons offered words of support on her Twitter account, Ukrinform reports.

"On International Day of Indigenous Peoples we stay in solidarity with Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks. Since 2014 Russian forced 30K of them to leave and persecutes those who stayed. Russia will be held accountable for all these abuses. Crimea is Ukraine and home of its indigenous people," she wrote.

In 1994, the UN General Assembly decided that the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples should be observed on August 9.