Exactly 9 years ago, on March 27, the UN General Assembly adopted the first resolution in support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. 100 countries voted in favor of the Resolution on the Territorial Integrity of Ukraine, and only 11 voted against: Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, North Korea, Nicaragua, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and Russia, of course.

With this landmark decision, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed its commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state within its internationally recognized borders. The UN called on the aggressor country to cease and desist from any further actions aimed at violating the borders and national unity of Ukraine.

Despite the fact that the world has condemned the attempt to annex the Ukrainian peninsula with the use of weapons, Russia continued its occupation of Crimea, disregarded the rule of law and brought with it total militarization, anti-Ukrainian propaganda, enforced disappearances, criminal prosecutions and massive violations of the rights of citizens, including the indigenous Crimean Tatar people.

In the Resolution, the General Assembly also called on all states not to recognize any changes in the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, which eventually became known as the policy of non-recognition of the attempted annexation and is still applied by dozens of states.

After the first resolution, the UN adopted many more: 7 on Russia’s human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, 4 on the militarization of the occupied peninsula. However, the occupying country did not care about international law and the agreements it had signed, so it again launched an armed attack on the territory of Ukraine – a full-scale invasion.

It all started in Crimea, and it will end in Crimea. 2023 should be the year of Ukraine’s victory, when together we will stop the war and ensure security throughout the democratic world.