The operation to isolate Crimea has moved from a strategic concept to active execution. Ukrainian drones are severing the Russian army’s logistical routes in occupied Crimea. On certain routes the Ukrainian Armed Forces have cut the occupiers’ military traffic by 71 percent. 

At the same time, the geopolitical environment is shifting just as rapidly. The positions of partners, the security architecture, and the negotiating process are all in motion.

These conditions fundamentally change the context in which the peninsula’s future should be discussed. In response to that shift and to new challenges, the Crimea Platform Expert Network has convened its Fifth International Forum.

Ukrainian and international experts, together with government officials, will examine how security in the Black Sea is changing today, which de-occupation scenarios appear realistic under the new geopolitics, and how to further strengthen the mechanisms for holding Russia accountable for its war crimes.

The forum will also provide a space to discuss how to preserve and sustain what Russia is trying to displace or destroy: the language, the culture, and the ties that our citizens under occupation maintain with Ukraine. And they will consider how to forge a shared international position on the ultimate goal, the full de-occupation of Crimea.

Date: June 30

Registration opens: 9:30 AM

Media registration form: https://forms.gle/iKvFUFqyParnxpzk8

The working languages of the forum are Ukrainian and English. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided for participants.

For security reasons, the venue is shared with accredited participants one day before the event.

Organizers: the Crimea Platform Expert Network, with the support of the Crimea Platform Office, the Permanent Representation of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People. The forum’s media partner is Media Center Ukraine.

Participants will include government representatives, independent experts, representatives of international think tanks and nongovernmental organizations, human rights defenders, and members of the diplomatic corps.

The forum will feature four panel discussions:

• Through the Prism of Crimea: A Strategic View of Effective Justice for the Gravest Crimes Committed During Russia’s War Against Ukraine
• Crimea as a Constant: A Strategy for Liberation Amid Geopolitical Change
• Rewriting the Past to Shape the Future: The Struggle for Identity in Occupied Crimea
• A Coalition Against Russia: Lessons of the Crimean War and Today’s Security Challenges in the Black Sea

The event is being held as part of the International Crimea Platform, a mechanism dedicated to the de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea and the restoration of Black Sea, European, and global security.