"Crimean Platform" will never recognize Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territories

This is stated in a joint statement of the International Crimean Platform on the occasion of the Day of Resistance to the Occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukrinform reports.

"We will never recognize Russia's attempted illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, which grossly violates the principles and purposes of the UN Charter and poses a direct threat to international security with serious consequences for international law and order. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions are Ukraine," the document says.

The authors of the statement reaffirmed their strongest condemnation of the so-called referendums and so-called elections, both past and future, held by the Russian occupation administration in the temporarily occupied Crimea and parts of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine.

"These decisions are invalid and have no legal force," the participants of the International Crimean Platform emphasized.

They also strongly condemned the illegal mobilization campaign in the temporarily occupied Crimea disproportionately targeting Crimean Tatars, the continued resettlement of Russian citizens in Crimea as an unacceptable attempt to change the demographic structure of the peninsula, Russia's ongoing attempts to forcibly and illegally incorporate the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including Crimea, into the Russian Federation, and Russia's decision to turn the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula into a heavily militarized outpost in the Black Sea and use it to conduct military operations in the region.

"Reaffirm our support for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, in order to ensure the welfare and prosperity of the Ukrainian nation. We recognize the existing and future challenges and reaffirm our readiness to strengthen political, diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and other forms of support for Ukraine until the full restoration of its sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders," the participants of the International Crimean Platform stated.

Ukraine marks the Day of Resistance to the Russian Occupation of Crimea on February 26. Ukrainian Crimea has been occupied for 10 years. Its seizure by the Russian military in February 2014 was the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine.