The first panel discussion was dedicated to the key challenges Ukraine has faced during the 12 years of Crimea’s temporary occupation and the tools the state is implementing to support Crimeans, preserve the heritage of Ukraine’s Indigenous peoples, and maintain ties with the occupied territories.

The discussion featured:

• Olha Kuryshko, Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the AR of Crimea
• Olena Lunova, Advocacy Director at the Human Rights Center ZMINA
• Oleksii Riabykin, Deputy Minister of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine
• Nataliia Hontarenko, Acting Head of the Department for Affirming Ukrainian National and Civic Identity at the Ministry of Youth and Sports

The panel was moderated by Daria Svyrydova, a lawyer and partner at AZONES.

Olha Kuryshko noted that the Mission is consistently working on reintegration policy, including establishing mechanisms for transitional justice, resolving issues with documents from occupation administrations, restoring education, and expanding work with youth. Separately, Olha Kuryshko emphasized that the Mission is also working on legislative changes and documenting Russia’s crimes, particularly human rights violations, the deportation of children, and militarization.

“Behind every strategy and law, there are people. Today, thousands of individuals in occupied Crimea are being prosecuted under administrative and criminal articles. This is not abstract statistics. These are specific names, specific families, specific sentences—often for supporting Ukraine or for a social media post against the war. Only the liberation of Crimea will return freedom to the peninsula.”

Olha Kuryshko also highlighted the situation of Ukraine’s Indigenous peoples, stating that they face systematic persecution from the occupying administration in occupied Crimea. According to her, the Mission is working to preserve the culture and identity of Indigenous peoples, in particular by implementing the previously developed strategy for the development of the Crimean Tatar language and literature.

In turn, Oleksii Riabykin spoke about a document on the priority areas of Ukraine’s state policy in the de-occupation, reintegration, and restoration of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. It defines the framework for the state’s work concerning all temporarily occupied territories, including Crimea. According to Oleksii Riabykin, the document is intended to enhance coordination between state bodies and will help, for example, to form a personnel reserve of managers to restore Ukrainian authority after de-occupation.

“We need to understand the condition of the territory so that after de-occupation, we have a plan for how we will reintegrate and restore this territory. But no matter how much we talk about territories or regulations, it is always about people. About specific people in specific territories.”

Olena Lunova emphasized that occupation is not a pause in people’s lives, and therefore it is crucial to constantly maintain contact with citizens who remain in or have left the occupied territories, and not to forget their resistance, such as that of the “Yellow Ribbon” activists. She stressed that the state must support these people and create conditions for them to leave, while not stigmatizing those who live under occupation.

“It’s important to say that living under occupation carries risks for the people who remain there. But it’s not a verdict for them. It doesn’t mean they are somehow wrong, that they, for example, become agents of the Russian Federation. We must not forget about the people under occupation, because simply by living there, by preserving their Ukrainian identity and their belonging to Ukrainian citizenship, they are already resisting.”

Nataliia Hontarenko explained that in the temporarily occupied territories, particularly in Crimea, Russia is systematically implementing a policy of militarization and ideological influence on children and youth through legislative initiatives, military-patriotic programs, and educational institutions. At the same time, Ukraine is countering this through legal and regulatory mechanisms, reintegration strategies, and the creation of digital educational and cultural products accessible to residents of the occupied territories, among others. These steps are aimed at preserving Ukrainian identity and maintaining a connection with youth under occupation.

Event Organizers: The Mission of the President of Ukraine in the AR of Crimea / Office of the Crimea Platform, Crimean Human Rights Group, Human Rights Center ZMINA, CrimeaSOS.