On August 23, Kyiv hosted the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform, an international format created by Ukraine to consolidate its efforts to deoccupy Crimea.

The summit was attended by 47 states and international organizations. The delegations were headed by 15 heads of state and government, 2 speakers of parliaments, and 14 ministers. The event was attended by the Heads of Institutions of the European Union, the Secretaries-General of the Council of Europe and GUAM, and the Deputy Secretary-General of NATO.

The official part of the summit began with a speech by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Speeches were also made by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal, the heads of foreign delegations, the leader of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Dzhemilev, the representative of the expert network of the Crimean platform Olga Skrypnyk.

Opening the summit, the President of Ukraine stressed that the Crimean Platform will become a centre for developing and adopting key international decisions on Crimea: “From today, we are actually starting the countdown to the liberation of our land - the Ukrainian peninsula. It is possible that August 23, 2021, will go down in history as the day of the beginning of the de-occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. The occupation of the Crimean peninsula began in Moscow. We will definitely start the de-occupation of Crimea in Kyiv. Let's start."

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said that by launching the Crimean Platform, Ukraine is solving two tasks: “First, we are returning Crimea from oblivion. Crimea once again burst onto the agenda of the leaders of the states, burst into the international information space, and our state did it. We are working not only to keep Crimea on the international agenda but also to solve the problems of Crimea and move towards de-occupation. From now on, the Joint Declaration of the Crimean Platform serves as a guide to this systematic work.”

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy noted that the creation of the Crimean platform is part of a broader foreign policy strategy. It envisages the creation of new alliances of countries to strengthen the security of Ukraine, the region and the world. The Minister said that in the foreign ministry of each country that has already joined or will join in the future to the Joint Declaration, a specific person will be appointed to take care of the Crimea: "This is our infrastructure of international cooperation and network of influence for further work."

The Minister thanked the international partners for participating in the Crimean Platform Summit, which has become unprecedented in the history of our country both in terms of the number of participants and the number of participants. 

The leaders of foreign states and international organizations reaffirmed their continued support for Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and stressed the need to continue joint efforts to overcome the negative consequences of the temporary occupation of Crimea in security, human rights, ecology and economy. They stressed the importance of maintaining the effectiveness and steadfastness of the regime of non-recognition of any change in the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally presented to the summit participants the newly established Crimean Platform Office, which will monitor the situation in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and coordinate national efforts to deoccupy it.

Foreign parliamentarians attended an extraordinary sitting of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, at which people's deputies approved a resolution in support of the Crimean platform.

The summit was accompanied by a comprehensive cultural program. The Ukrainian singer of Crimean Tatar origin Jamala performed the iconic song "1944", and the venue was equipped with seven digital installations and exhibitions, which immersed guests in the cultural atmosphere of the Crimean peninsula.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, experts in international relations, international law, sanctions policy, security and human rights took part in panel discussions on non-recognition of the annexation of Crimea, the militarization of the Azov-Black Sea region as a threat to world security, ways to reintegrate Crimea through human rights and sustainable development, restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people.