Ukraine sends invites for 5th Crimea Platform leaders summit

Ukraine plans to hold the fifth summit of the Crimea Platform at the level of leaders, hoping to expand the number of participants, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva has said.

"This year, the fifth, anniversary summit of the Crimea Platform at the level of leaders will be held, we are preparing for it, we are planning. The President of Ukraine has already sent invitations. And we want this year, according to the tradition that has already been established, the number of participants to be larger compared to the previous summit," he said at the 4th International Forum of the Expert Network of the International Crimea Platform on Thursday in Kyiv.

Zhovkva stressed the need to expand the presence of the Crimea Platform participants at the expense of other regions of the world - not only European, but also Latin American, Asian, and African.

"Ukraine is strengthening its diplomatic presence in the African region, the Latin American region. I would like these countries to also hear and understand... Unfortunately, we see that the terrible Russian aggression that we have today and against which we fought today grew out of Crimea. There is, obviously, no country in the world today on any continent that would not be affected by Russian aggression in one way or another," the Office of the President emphasized.

Zhovkva emphasized that "Crimea is Ukraine, Crimea is, was and will be Ukraine."

"Ukraine will not accept any attempts at legitimization or any de jure recognition. The position of the President of Ukraine is clear," he noted.

Separately, the Office of the President again called on the world community to fight even more actively for the release of civilians, in particular journalists, human rights defenders, and children abducted by Russia.

"At every negotiation that the President of Ukraine holds with his partners in a European country, with our partners from the United States of America, as well as at the negotiations that the Ukrainian delegation has already had in Istanbul - among all the important issues, one of the most important is the humanitarian issue. The return of Ukrainian civilians from Russia or from the occupied territories to Ukraine, the return of abducted Ukrainian children, and the exchange of prisoners of war on the principle of "all for all." And once again, I call, I ask the international community to get even more actively involved in these issues, because unfortunately, there is no much progress today in the issue of the return of civilians and the return of abducted children," Zhovkva noted.