It has happened during their joint press conference in Kyiv.

"I thank the EU for its consistent policy of not recognizing the illegal annexation of Crimea. At the same time, more effective international steps are needed. The issue of Crimea must be put on the international agenda. I initiated the founding summit of the Crimean Platform in Kyiv on 23rd of August", - the President Of Ukraine informed.

According to Zelensky, Ukraine's and the European Union's assessments of the situation in the occupied Crimea and systemic human rights violations coincide.

"The EU recently approved a new global sanctions regime for human rights violations. In this regard, I proposed the introduction of similar sanctions against those who commit arbitrariness on the occupied Crimean peninsula. This could be a powerful contribution of Brussels to the Crimean platform", - Vladimir Zelensky announced.

In turn, the President of the European Council said that "yesterday I was in Donbas with President Zelensky, and I saw all the efforts that Ukraine is making with international partners".

"And at the European level, we have adopted a new sanctions regime based on this important issue of human rights protection, and for the first time, we have adopted sanctions for the violations you mentioned. That is, we have united in Europe to take a hard line to protect human rights, to protect our interests as well", - Charles Michel emphasizes.

What is known

• Ukraine has begun the process of imposing sanctions on the Austrian architectural firm Coop Himmelb (l) au, as well as against its leadership through the construction of an opera house in Russian-occupied Sevastopol.
• Ukraine has submitted to the European Union a new list of sanctions against Russia concerning Russia's human rights violations in Crimea and Donbas.
• The European Union has published a declaration dedicated to the seventh anniversary of the occupation of Crimea.