On March 16, it was nine years since russia held a fake "referendum on the status of Crimea" and on March 18 - since the day of the attempted illegal annexation, when the so-called "agreements on the accession of Crimea to the russian federation" were signed.

It is reported that russian president vladimir putin, who is wanted by international justice for committing war crimes, arrived in temporarily occupied Crimea today.

For nine years in a row, the Crimean Peninsula has suffered from the kremlin's criminal regime, which has turned it into a military outpost and into a zone of deprivation of freedom, full of oppression, repressions and terror against everything and everyone who has the courage to resist and defend their democratic rights and values.

This kremlin-directed "show" held at gunpoint of the russian military contradicted the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine, grossly violated international law, and was not recognized by the international community.

In September 2022, russia repeated this trick like a tracing paper, organizing a similar propaganda action called "referendums" in the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions of Ukraine.

Both in 2014 and in 2022, the show with referendums does not have any consequences for the administrative-territorial system and internationally recognized borders of Ukraine. Most of the territories where they were held in 2022 have already been liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The liberation of all other temporarily occupied territories will also take place. It is only a matter of time.

We highly appreciate the clear and unwavering support of the international community, in particular the participants of the International Crimean Platform, regarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, which is enshrined in the resolutions of the UN General Assembly, the decisions of other international and regional organizations. We express our gratitude to our international partners for their readiness to move steadily towards the complete de-occupation of all temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

We will continue making maximum efforts to punish russia and its leadership for the crime of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine.