The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has welcomed the adoption on December 22, 2018 by the UN General Assembly of the resolution "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine."

"The decision is yet another evidence of the strong support of the international community for the need to uphold human rights on the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol," the ministry said in a statement.

"The General Assembly points out that the overall human rights situation on the Ukrainian peninsula if sharply deteriorating and, despite the urges by the international community, the Russian Federation continues to blatantly violate its obligations as an occupying power. The delegations condemned Russia’s non-compliance with the provisions of the previous UNGA resolutions 71/205 and 71/190 adopted in 2016 and 2017 respectively," the statement says.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the states also condemned the ongoing arbitrary arrests and detentions, disappearances, searches, violence and ill-treatment of activists, which became an everyday reality in what has been until recently a peaceful and stable Ukrainian autonomous republic.

Kyiv has demanded the aggressor state stop the total lawlessness in the occupied territory and ensure that the international law is upheld there, release all illegally detained persons, including political prisoners Oleh Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh, and Emir-Usein Kuku.

"It is important to emphasize that the resolution calls upon all the states and international organizations to refer to Crimea as the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine," the statement reads.

"We in Ukraine are sincerely grateful to every state that gave its vote in support of the UN General Assembly's resolution "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine," the ministry said.