Ukraine will restore its sovereignty over the Russian temporarily occupied peninsula of Crimea and hold the leadership of the occupying state responsible for the crimes committed on Ukrainian territory, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the anniversary of the illegal "referendum" held by Russia in 2014 to legitimize its annexation of the peninsula.
"We will return Crimea and every scrap of our land temporarily occupied by Russia and hold Russia and its leadership responsible for all the crimes it has committed in Ukraine," the Ukrainian foreign ministry said on Twitter.
The Foreign Ministry stressed that the so-called "referendum on the status of Crimea" held by Russia after the armed seizure of power in Crimea and Sevastopol on March 16, 2014 was the first stage of Moscow's plan to destroy Ukrainian statehood.
We will return Crimea and every single piece of our land temporarily occupied by Russia, and hold Russia and its leadership responsible for all the crimes committed by it in Ukraine.
— MFA of Ukraine (@MFA_Ukraine) March 16, 2022
