Since the mandate of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) is extended to the territory of Ukraine, and Crimea occupied by Russia is also part of the Ukrainian state, Kyiv expects the OSCE SMM to monitor the security and humanitarian situation in the occupied peninsula, First Deputy Speaker of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada and Ukraine's envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group's (TCG) humanitarian subgroup Iryna Gerashchenko has said.

"The Ukrainian side also drew attention of the head of the OSCE SMM mission to the following: Crimea is the territory of Ukraine. And we expect from the OSCE SMM mission that the mission's observers should monitor the security and humanitarian situation in occupied Crimea. We demand admission and access of the SMM to the whole territory of Donbas and Crimea temporarily occupied by the Russia!" Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook on Tuesday evening.