Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution on the observance of human rights in Russian-occupied Crimea.

"I call upon UN Member States to strengthen their efforts in demanding respect for human rights in the temporarily occupied Crimea through the adoption of the respective UNGA resolution," he said at the General Debate of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

He noted that since the first day of the illegal occupation of Crimea, Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians had faced repressions and discrimination and that there were many cases of murders, tortures, harassment and arrests under fabricated charges.

"The list of hostages and victims of the Russian occupation regime in Crimea is getting longer almost every day," Poroshenko said.

According to him, Ukrainians or Crimean Tatars are unfoundedly accused of committing various crimes.

Poroshenko recalled that Crimean farmer Volodymyr Balukh had been arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for raising a Ukrainian flag upon his private residence, whereas Crimean film director Oleh Sentsov remains behind the bars in a remote penal colony in northern Russia serving a 20-years prison term on fabricated charges.

He thanked the world community for support and unity in the effort to help free fighters for freedom.

"Unfortunately, Kremlin remains blind and deaf to these appeals of the international community," Poroshenko said.

He stressed that there are also dozens of Ukrainians held by the occupants in Donbas since the beginning of Russian aggression in 2014.

According to the president, all Ukrainian proposals to exchange the Russian citizens convicted for crimes against Ukraine's sovereignt