On 23 February, the Permanent Representative held a working meeting with Alina Grigoras, Head of the Occupied Territories Unit of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).

During the meeting, the parties discussed the current situation in temporarily occupied Crimea, particularly the systematic violation of human rights by the Russian occupying authorities. The Permanent Representative spoke about illegal confiscation and the so-called nationalisation of property, religious persecution, and the destruction of cultural heritage. Olha Kuryshko also summarised that as of February 2026, 284 individuals are subject to judicial persecution, 159 of whom are Crimean Tatars.

Separately, the Permanent Representative drew attention to the militarisation of children and youth. For example, last year the occupiers allocated significant funds to purchase weapon mock-ups for educational institutions in Crimea and are expanding the influence of paramilitary youth formations.

In turn, Alina Grigoras emphasised that the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has been documenting the human rights situation since 2014, including in the temporarily occupied territories, specifically Crimea. Notably, last December, the UN Monitoring Mission published a report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, including in temporarily occupied Crimea. According to the published information, in 2025, Russia added “patriotic education” to the programme of summer camps for children from the occupied regions of Ukraine. The report also mentions that in October, the occupation authorities charged four Crimean Tatar women in the so-called case of Crimean Muslims. According to the Monitoring Mission, this is the first instance of the occupiers bringing such charges against Crimean Tatar women.