Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on the international community to apply all possible legal and political pressure on Russia for the release of Ukrainian political prisoners and hostages kept in Russian territory and "occupied land of Ukraine," the ministry's press service said in a statement.

The ministry also calls on Russia to end the violation of human rights and freedoms.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses categorical protest against illegal actions by Russia that humiliate the human dignity of citizens of Ukraine who are illegally kept both in Russia and in occupied areas of Ukraine," the statement said.

The ministry recalls that "the Russian government and its occupying forces" are still keeping at least 29 Ukrainian citizens in custody, dozens of Ukrainian citizens are being persecuted in Crimean territory, 16 people have been designated as missing and 115 Ukrainians are held hostage by illegal armed groups in temporarily uncontrolled areas in Ukraine.

"It [Russia] grossly violates all possible international legal norms in the field of human rights, in particular, the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment," the statement said. This situation is interpreted as "the return of the Russian Federation to political repression and Stalinist-era rigged trials."

"Ukraine sees that only joint and persistent efforts by world leaders and democratic society where human rights and human dignity are the highest priority, can help overcome the current arbitrariness of the Russian authorities," the ministry stressed.